A Sophomore Life
by The Night Life 13
Summary: They say High School is supposedly the BEST 4 years of your life, Rukia is only in her 2nd year of it. Sophomore year! Let's see her manage the drama of love, crushes, friendship, teachers and homework!
1. I'm Ready

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or its characters.**

**Why hello there! I've decided to start up a new Bleach fanfic! If you haven't read in my profile this is all inspired by CarrieTheNinja's ****The College Experience**** and my exciting life as a Sophomore in High School. I know that ****TCE**** has inspired some other fanfics as well; I recommend that you read it because it's incredibly good :). Yes haha ok so I'm sorry but this chapter might be a little boring but it's the first chapter, what can you do? I hope that you'll enjoy this new story as much as I will writing it! Okay then, let's get this thing started!!**

**A Sophomore Life**

**Chapter 1: I'm Ready**

_-And today was a day just like any other- _

I'm on the verge, I'm on the verge  
Unraveling with every word  
With every word you say, make me believe  
That I won't feel your tires on the street  
As I'm finding the words... you're getting away  


A groggy groan escaped from the lips of a young girl as she lazily flung her right hand over to the counter next to her bed. The song immediately stopped as her slender fingers found their way to the snooze button on her iPod stereo.

"I'm Ready by Jack's Mannequin huh?" she told herself as she stared up at her blank ceiling. She rubbed her bleary violet/ dark blue eyes and yawned, letting her body stay in her warm bed for a little while longer as her mind registered what day it was.

"Rukia?!" came a shout outside her door, "Are you up?"

"Yes Hisana!" the girl called back, "I'm getting ready right now!"

'God I HATE Mondays." Rukia thought to herself as she slipped out of her warm bed sheets and made her way to her bathroom. She flicked on the light and looked into her mirror. The song that had woken her up suddenly began to play again, for had been 5 minutes and the radio was programmed to go off every 5 minutes after hitting the snooze button.

_I come undone, oh yes, I do  
Just think of all the thoughts wasted on you  
And every word you say, say something sweet  
Cause all I taste is blood between my teeth  
As I'm finding the words... you're getting away  
_

Her hair was still a bit messy, after all she had just woken up, and that one single bang still ran in between her nose and her eye, a few strands going in opposite directions. She stretched, bringing her hands up above her head, the sleeves of her light purple bunny covered pajamas slid down her pale arms. Rukia stared at her short stature for a second and then turned on the faucet.

"Ready for another day at school Rukia?" she asked her reflection.

_  
__Well I'm ready, I'm ready to drop  
Oh, I'm ready, I'm ready so don't stop  
I'm ready so don't stop, Keep pushing  
I'm ready to fall, oh, I'm ready  
I'm ready so don't call, I'm ready so don't call _

I am aware, I've been misled  
I disconnect my heart, my head  
Don't wanna recognize when things go bad  
The things that you'll accept  
Except that I am finding the words... to say  


In less than five minutes, Rukia was done brushing her teeth, her hair and washing her face. She came back into her room and glanced at her clock. It read in red numbers 6:27 a.m. Sighing to herself, she walked to her drawer filled with clothes and picked out what she would wear that day. She changed into a pair of blue jeans and wore a slim brown shirt that had a Hot Sauce Bottle and a Taco on it. With the Hot Sauce saying "Hola!" and the Taco saying "I Think You're Hot!". Quickly she looked at herself in the mirror to make sure she looked alright, even though she didn't really care what she looked like to school.

_  
__I'm ready, I'm ready to drop  
Oh oh oh oh oh, I'm ready  
I'm ready so don't stop  
I'm ready so don't stop _

(I wake up to find it's another  
Four aspirin morning, and I dive in  
I put on the same clothes I wore yesterday.  
When did society decide that we had to change  
And wash a tee shirt after every individual use:  
If it's not dirty, I'm gonna wear it.  
I take the stairs to the car  
And there's fog on the windows.  
(And I'm Fighting the words...)  
I need caffeine in my blood stream,  
I take caffeine in the blood stream.  
I grip the wheel and all at once I realize:  
(And you're getting away...)  
My life has become a boring pop song  
And everyone's singing along.)  


Before heading downstairs, Rukia grabbed her backpack, cell phone, ipod and a black jacket.

"Whoa, whoa! What's the rush Rukia?" Hisana asked as she spotted her younger sister scurrying down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"I wanna get to school early so I can get my schedule!" she answered back as she returned from the kitchen holding a strawberry poptart in her hand.

"Alright, let's go then," The older sister replied with a smile, "Byakuya, honey, I'll be back, I'm just going to drop off Rukia at school!" she called upstairs.

"Okay" her husband answered in a monotone voice.

"Bye Byakuya!" Rukia added before following her sister out the door and to the car. The two hopped into Hisana's black Lexus and began their way to Karakura High.

_  
__Well, I'm ready, to drop, well, I'm ready  
I'm ready so don't stop, oh  
Well, keep pushing, I'm ready to fall  
Well, I'm ready, I'm ready so don't call  
I'm ready so don't call, oh... oh... oh..._

"So Rukia, "Hisana began, "how's the life of a normal 15 year old sophomore going for you?"

"Oh, well you know, just as normal as a married 24 year old's I guess," Rukia replied back with a smile.

"God, you make me sound so old,"

"Whatever! A least you're not dead!"

"True,"

Both sisters smiled and Rukia turned the volume of the radio up to pass the time.

8 Minutes later the arrived at their destination.

"Bye Hisana, see you later!" Rukia told her after she kissed her sister on the cheek.

"Have fun!"

The vertically challenged girl stepped out of the car, slung her backpack over her right shoulder, closed the car door and started walking toward the entrance of Karakura High School. Rukia was glad that she had brought a jacket, it was a bit cold that morning, but the sun was up and shining through the cold. She made her way towards the cafeteria and found that other students had the same thought as Rukia had. She lined up for her schedule and told her last name to the person handing out the papers.

"Kuchiki… K-U-C-H-I-K-I… thanks" the girl took her schedule and scanned through her classes.

1) APEC (AP European Civilizations), Room 673, Teacher Luston

2) French 4, Room 265, Teacher Blak

3) Honors Humanities, Room 347, Teacher Gorgan

4) Honors Algebra 4, Room 464, Teacher Shean

5) Chemistry 2, Room 542, Teacher Runner

6) Drawing/ Painting 1, Room 165, Teacher Bitecor

"Damn, my periods totally changed from last semester except for Algebra!" Rukia thought to herself after looking through her classes. The girl was busy looking down at her paper and didn't notice a rather tall and orange- headed boy heading her way. The two knocked into each other and found themselves on the floor.

"Oww," Rukia said as she rubbed her left arm for it scrapped part of the concrete floor. She was in a sitting position and was lucky that she was wearing pants because if she wasn't everyone would have been able to see in between her legs. The guy who ran into her scratched his head and simply looked at the girl in front of him.

"Oh, umm… I'm sorry," he said to her sheepishly.

"Uhh, It's ok, really, I should have been looking where I was going," Rukia said back trying to put in a smile on her face. The guy stood up and offered his hand to her to help her up too. Rukia took it, and was surprised at how strong he was. In one pull she was fully on her feet.

"Thanks,"

"Yeah, no problem, well, I'll see you around…"

"Yeah…" With that the guy was gone, leaving Rukia to her thoughts. However, before she could think, a high pitched voice caught her attention.

"Rukiaaaaa!!!!" she turned her head to the direction of the voice and found Orihime walking towards her.

"Hey Orihime!" Rukia said to her friend giving her a greeting wave.

"Who was that?" Orihime asked her.

"Who…?"

"Oh you know! That cute boy who just helped you up!" Orihime smiled, her blonde orange hair waving in the wind.

"Uhh, I dunno we just accidentally bumped into each other,"

"Aww Rukia! You should have asked for his name!"

"Well, it shouldn't be that hard to spot him, he has orange hair like you"

"Yeah, well anyway, let me see your schedule!" Rukia handed her piece of paper to the gray-eyed girl and waited for her response.

"Aww man! No classes together! But we still have the same Humanities teacher just different periods, I have Gorgan 6th,"

"Yeah, hey have you seen anyone else around yet?" the raven-haired girl asked.

"Nope, I was just about to call Uryuu though," a tinge of pink was visible on Orihime's face after what she had said.

"Ohhhhhh," Rukia smirked, "did he ask you out yet?"

"R-Rukia! Of course not! We're just friends!"

"Mmmmhmm, come on I've seen the way he looks at you! Last semester when all of us had Gorgan 5th period! I'd see him stare at you from across the room!"

"I'm sure that was nothing, he was just probably staring out the window behind me!"

"Whatever Orihime, you just keep telling yourself that, you could have _any_ guy in this school if you wanted!" Rukia emphasized any and looked at the girls' body.

"Just cause I have a bigger boobs size doesn't mean that I could get ANY guy!"

"Orihime, seriously, all guys are after one thing, SEX, and apparently you have the biggest sex appeal out of all the sophomores in Karakura High,"

"Are we talking about Orihime's boobs again?" the two girls turned around to see their other friend Mae standing there with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Hey Mae," Rukia greeted to the newcomer. Mae nodded in acknowledgement. Her dark brown hair was tied up into a simple pony tail and her long bangs covered her left eye.

"Let's see your schedule!" Orihime said, happy that the subject was changed.

"Here," Mae passed them her piece of paper.

"Sweet! You're in my APEC class Mae!" Rukia exclaimed happily.

"And my humanities class again!"

"It sucks that our 5th period got separated," Mae stated, "I was just getting used to everyone, and you, Rukia, Uryuu, Renji, CJ, and Chase were all in that class!"

"I know right? Man, that's what made that class fun!" Rukia replied sighing.

"Well what can you do? That's how the school works out," Orihime added. Rukia took out her slick black Krazr and checked the time.

"Wow, already 7:13, I'll see you guys later! I gotta go to my locker," the short girl told the other two and began to walk away.

"Alright, later Rukia, I'll see you 1st period!" Mae said.

"See you at break!" Orihime replied. While walking through the halls, Rukia took out her new 16 GB silver ipod nano and put in the earphones. She pressed the menu button and went to her playlists. Immediately, she went to her 'New Songs' and chose the song "Gone" by Matt Nathanson. The song began playing and the beat was in sync with Rukia's steps.

_Love,  
I'm aching to believe  
give me something real enough  
give me somewhere to fall from _

'cause in the dark  
I can't find my feet  
built my world on promises  
colorless and cold  


She mouthed the lyrics silently and didn't really care if anyone was watching her or thought that she was a freak. All that mattered was that she was being herself. It was nice once in a while to just be in her own little world and not have a care for anything else because life was hectic as it is. She didn't notice someone was staring at her. The same guy who she had just bumped into minutes ago. He didn't mean to stare or see her actually. He was just walking and just happened to look up and BAM she was there. It was amazing to him that she didn't see him considering his bright orange hair. But no matter, he couldn't look away from her. He was heading to his locker too and no, he was not stalking her, not the least. Rukia finally got to her locker: 456 A.

_  
I'm short of breath, I'm sure  
gone, let it wash away the best I had  
gone, and when I disappear  
don't expect me back, don't expect me back _

lost, sweetest things get lost  
in the static far away  
painted pictures of you  
I fold  
don't want to be holy then  
don't want to be sold again  
the way I was with you

Yep, she had gotten an A locker, the highest locker possible out of A,B, and C. She had gotten the choice of either and A or C locker and freshmen year she had a C locker. She definitely did not want to go through having the lowest locker, having to bend down to open it. So she took the A, it was amazing that she could actually reach it, considering her shortness. Yeah, a B locker would have been nice, but that was not an option, although there were some empty B lockers around her aisle. Quietly she went through her locker combination in her head. 

_I'm short of breath, I'm sure  
gone let it wash away the best I had  
gone and when I disappear  
don't expect me back, don't expect me back _

I'm short of breath, I'm sure  
gone, let it wash away  
the best I had  
gone, and when I disappear  
don't expect me back  
don't expect me back  


'21, 11, 37' she thought. It was kind of easy for her to remember because the numbers rhymed a little bit. She unlocked it and took out the books that she needed that day.

"Let's see," she pondered, "So I have APEC and French, then Break… I could come back at Break to get the rest…" After getting her APEC and French books and putting them into her backpack, she closed her locker and checked the time again.

7:19.

"The bell should ring soon, school starts in 6 minutes," Rukia said to herself. Sure enough at 7:20, the first bell rang and after another minute the students around her began to disperse to their new first period classes of 2nd semester. The violet-eyed girl made her way to room 673 for APEC. Once she stepped into the room she spotted Mae already there and sitting, she motioned for Rukia to sit next to her in the empty seat. Rukia smiled and walked over. The second bell rang and she turned off her ipod and took out her headphones. Mr. Luston stood up from his desk and began to take roll.

"Welcome to the beginning of 2nd semester for APEC!" he told his class. Everyone just groaned in response.

_  
at its worse the heart is sober  
at its worse the heart is cold, cold, cold _

I'm short of breath, I'm sure  
gone, let it wash away all the best I had  
gone, and when I disappear  
don't expect me, don't expect me back

gone, let it wash away  
the best I had  
gone, and when I disappear  
don't expect me back  
don't expect me back  
don't expect me back 

"Oh god! A test this Friday already?!" Mae said exasperatedly.

"I know! Sheesh, freaking APEC," Rukia agreed. The two had just gotten out of APEC and were amazed that they survived through 1st period.

"Well, I have Chem next, I'll see you at break Rukia," Made told her as she turned left to her next class.

"Bye," Rukia kept on walking straight to her French class. She and Chase had French last semester together for 6th period, and she wondered if he was still in her class this semester, it was a lot of fun, especially since they made friends with a Junior who was also in their class, Rangiku Matsumoto to be exact. All three of them had a fun time in French, from throwing things at each other to passing notes. Yep, Rukia hoped that all three of them had French together still. She walked into the room and looked around the room.

"Rukia!" Rangiku shouted out. She was sitting down already and waved to her.

"Rangiku, looks like we're in the same French class,"

"Yeah I know! I hope Chase is too! Last semester was sooo much fun!... Sit here Rukia!" The junior pointed to a seat behind her and began to talk to the people around her.

"Thanks," Rukia sat down and looked to the girl next to her.

"Hey Jenna," she greeted.

"Hi Rukia," Jenna replied. She smiled with her teeth covered in braces and brushed her golden bangs from her face. Her green eyes sparkled.

"Looks like we're gonna be partners," Madame Blak always partnered everyone up with the one sitting next to them.

"Guess so, hey there's this cute guy right there!" Jenna pointed across the room.

"Oh really, let me see," Rukia looked in the direction she was pointing and her eyes went a little big. It was the guy who had bumped into her that morning! There was no mistake, that spiky orange head was in her French class. He was sitting silently, his posture leaned lazily in the chair. His head was resting on the wall behind him. His auburn eyes were examining the class room.

"I think he's new, I've never seen him before," Jenna told her.

"I bumped into him this morning!" Rukia said. Jenna gasped and smiled.

"Really?! Aww Rukia! Do you know what his name is?"

"No, but he helped me up,"

"Rukia! What kind of girl are you?!" Rangiku busted into the conversation, "If it were me I would have totally asked for his name!"

"Well, Rangiku, I bet he'd give you it right away," Jenna said, looking at the juniors' body. Rangiku Matsumoto was probably the girl who had the most sex appeal in the ENTIRE school. Her boobs were the only ones that rivaled Orihime's and she was much more proud of them.

"Hell yeah," she smirked.

"Bonjour Class! Silence si vous plait!" Madame Blak instructed the class. Everyone quieted down and waited for her to say something.

"Class," the teacher said in English, "we have a new student from Hawaii here, if he would like to introduce himself," She motioned for him to stand up.

"Uhh, Hi, my name's Ichigo Kurosaki," the orange head said. He was wearing a shirt that said 'Nice Vibe' on it, a brown jacket was nicely fitted on him and it was unzipped, he wore a pair of slim black jeans with the end of his belt sticking out from under this shirt.

"Make sure you go up to him and say hello today," Blak told the students.

"Ichigo huh?" Jenna whispered to Rukia.

"Yeah… Strawberry," Rukia giggled.

**I think this is enough…. Yeah so it's only about 1/3 of Rukia's first day of 2****nd**** semester. Whatcha think? Boring? Lame? Well I'll continue this in the next chapter! Hope you guys like it:). I'll be starting up the next chapter right now, oh and if you guys liked the songs that I put in here they're**

**1) I'm Ready by Jack's Mannequin**

**2) Gone by Matt Nathanson**

**they're good songs, yep, expect some stuff in the next chapter, hopefully I'll have it up soon, I like writing this haha.**

**K well, if you'd like to Review, go for it, it's nice to get some feedback from people who read my story :).**

**-The Bleach Guardian's Heart**


	2. Center of Attention

**Disclaimer: Yeah, I know that I don't own Bleach.**

**So I've been obsessing over this story a little. Even though I'm writing it. I should really start writing in a journal or something cause I'm putting some of my real life experiences from school in this. I think you guys will laugh at it. I bring the party to EVERYTHING. Hahaha yeah anyway. Here's the 2****nd**** chapter :).**

**A Sophomore Life**

**Chapter 2: Center of Attention**

Both Rangiku and Rukia were a bit disappointed that Chase did not show up in their French class. In their class Rukia could hear some of the girls around her talk about Ichigo.

"Oh for the love of freaking god!" she thought to herself. She rested her chin on her hand and blew her bang out of her face, although it would go right back to its same spot. They were all ranting about how cute he was, or how cool his hair was, or how he was so tall, on and on!

"Jealous Rukia?" Jenna asked her. She could tell from Rukia's body language that she was feeling a bit annoyed. It was a gift that Jenna had, and it was pretty awesome.

"Hell no, I only bumped into the guy this morning! It's not like we're going to fall madly in love!"

"It could happen…"

"Jenna, this is high school, people don't find their true loves at our age, but even if they do, I think it's all because of luck!"

"Well, I beg to differ oh jealous one," Jenna cracked a smile.

"Shut up" Rukia stuck her tongue out at her. The two both laughed.

"Hey Rukia," Rangiku started turning around for her seat to face her, "that Ichigo guy is cute!"

"Oh Rangiku! Not you too!" Rukia said burying her face in her arms. The older girl laughed quietly.

"Nah, I was kidding, besides I already have a boyfriend,"

"Rangiku, I hate you sometimes," Rukia replied back.

"Oh but you love me so, so much," Rangiku said in defiance. Jenna chuckled at the two.

Ichigo wasn't paying attention to anything in class, he just looked like it. He was sitting around 2 other guys and a girl. Christian, Weston, and Jamie. They were pretty cool; they made an effort to talk to him. He scanned around the room, and of course he found that girl that he ran into that morning. No doubt about it. Once again, he was staring at her. Rukia, at the same moment just happened to turn her head in his direction, and caught him staring at her. Their eyes locked, for about 3 seconds before Rukia turned away. Ichigo immediately looked down and pretended that it never happened. Rukia, however had a million thoughts racing in her head, of course, she's a girl!

"_I remember when I was walking through the lunch area and I love seeing this kind of thing,"_ Rukia remembered Mr. Gorgan saying to their 5th period class last semester, _"The interaction of people, but what I love seeing the best, is when there's a girl in her own group of friends and a guy who's across the quad and with his own group of friends. He stares at the girl from across the quad, and either she feels him staring at her or her one of her friends tell her that he's staring, so she turned around to see. And BAAAMM!! Their eyes connect. It's only for about a couple seconds before it's too intense and one of them has to break it. That's the kind of thing that I love seeing on this campus. Little simple things that make a big impact. They say that if you stare at a person for 3 seconds or more that it's considered flirting." _The class laughed,_ "No, no! I'm serious! Just wait until it happens to you…" _Rukia sat quietly.

"Flirting…" she said to herself.

"Rukia! Hellooo!!! Rukia!" Both Jenna and Rangiku were looking at the girl with puzzled and worried expressions.

"Y-yeah?" Rukia snapped out of her daze.

"Oh god, you freaked us out for a moment there!" Rangiku told her.

"Yeah, what's up? You were fine a minute ago!" Jenna added on.

"W-well, it's just… I saw Ichigo staring at me…"

"WHAAAT?!" the two exclaimed together.

"That has to mean something!" the older girl stated.

"Mmmhmm, there's nothing on your face!" Jenna said.

"Oh thanks…" Rukia said back.

"Maybe… he likes you!" Rangiku said excitedly, "I can see it now! I think you two would make some pretty hot babies!"

"Rangiku! It's probably just nothing! He just happened to look my way when I looked his way, nothing more!" Rukia said in defense.

"Fine fine, whatever you want Rukia," Jenna told her, but both she and Rangiku were giving each other looks.

* * *

"I can't believe that I got caught staring at her! God I'm so stupid!" Ichigo scolded himself in thought. 

"I don't even know her freaking name!"

"Hey Ichigo!" Weston interrupted his contemplations.

"Yeah…"

"Were you just staring at Rukia a moment ago?" Ichigo was at a loss for words.

'Great, another person knows that I was staring at the girl!' he thought again.

"Uhh, I, well I was just looking around and I just happened to look at her too…" he thought up lamely.

"Nice, well if you're wondering, Rukia's a nice girl, I was in her humanities class last semester with a bunch of other people and she's chill. Definitely one of a kind."

"Thanks for the info Weston," Ichigo told him.

"No prob, looks like the bell's gonna ring soon, everyone's packing," the dark haired teen replied back. He started to pack all his things away too. Ichigo took out a piece of wrinkled paper from his pocket.

'What do I have next?' he pondered as he skimmed through his classes.

"3) Algebra 4, Room 453, Teacher Smiten" he read to himself. He crumpled his schedule back into his pocket and the bell rang a few seconds later. Sighing, he grabbed his bag and headed towards the door like everyone else.

* * *

Rukia got to her locker again; Rangiku was with her because she wanted to see Chase. The smaller girl opened her locker and put in her APEC and French books. 

"Rangiku tell me what I have next," Rukia told the older girl because she had given her schedule for her to see.

"Uhh, Humanities and Math," the junior replied back.

"Thanks," Rukia took out those books and put them in her bag and shut her locker closed.

"Rukia! Rangiku!" the two girls turned and saw CJ closing up her locker a few feet away from them.

"Hi CJ," Rukia called to her. CJ stood for Cameron Jane, but since it was too long, she decided for people to just call her CJ.

"Have you seen Chase?" Rangiku asked her.

"Mmm, not this morning," CJ said back. She was wearing a plain blue shirt from A&F and kaki shorts. Her dark gold/ light brown hair was down and her bangs barely touched her light blue eyes. "He probably has band right now,"

"Stupid bando," the junior muttered. The other two just laughed. "Well, maybe I'll just catch him at lunch, I've gotta go meet my boyfriend,"

"Ok, Bye!" CJ and Rukia said. When the older girl left, Rukia and CJ began talking.

"So what are your classes?" she light haired girl questioned.

"I just had APEC and French, I have Humanities and Math next, then after lunch it's Chem and Drawing/ Painting 1,"

"Nice, too bad I don't have classes with you this semester,"

"What do you have?"

"Next, uhh APEC, then Humanities,"

"Damn just one period off,"

"Yeah I know, well, wanna come with me to go and get Chase?"

"Sure," Rukia and CJ were off to the band room. Chase was in the drumline for band and since Marching Season ended a couple months ago, he was just in a regular percussion for Concert Season. He and CJ were going out ever since the last tournament for the season. They were a pretty cute couple, Rukia was a bit jealous for CJ and Chase, but she knew that the other girls like Orihime, Tatsuki, and Mae felt the same as she did, even if they didn't show it. Rukia thought it was the way that Chase would do the little things for CJ, like hold her hand, or carry her books or bag for her, buy her food… etc. It couldn't be that hard to have a man slave like that. But Rukia knew that it wasn't all easy stuff to be in a relationship. Humanities 1st semester taught her a lot about, well, being a human.

She remembered the drama after about 3 weeks when Chase asked CJ out. CJ called her in the evening; Rukia was just reading a book. CJ just spilled all of her problems to the girl. This wasn't the first time that people out of the blue called Rukia of their problems so she was used to it. She managed to calm her friend down and break it down to the main problems that were affecting her. They both figured out it was all because of Chase, and how CJ would always see him talking to other girls, she knew that it was stupid, but they were going out. Although Rukia had no experience in relationships whatsoever, she had either read, watched, or been told by another person something similar. So Rukia gave her opinion on what CJ should do. After about a whole hour of talking, CJ thanked Rukia and called Chase afterwards. Ever since then, CJ and Chase have been fine. Rukia was the type of person that apparently people open up to. She knew things about almost all her friends and kept their secrets. Proving that she's a trustworthy and good friend. She was the person who everyone could vent out to, and almost nothing seemed to sway her or truly affect her. However, there was really no one there for Rukia to vent out to except for one. Before Rukia could keep in her head, she and CJ were already at the band room. Noises from saxophones, trumpets, and other instruments were already heard from outside the room.

"Ready to go into the noisy pits of hell?" CJ asked smiling.

"Of course, we've been in here a million times anyway," The two girls ventured into the room and looked around for a certain teenage boy with golden brown hair and piercing green eyes. It didn't take long before they spotted him putting his stuff away.

"What's up bando?" CJ said as she crept up behind him.

"Hey" her boyfriend replied back grinning. The couple hugged and gave each other a quick kiss on the cheek. Unfortunately Rukia saw it all and made a face.

"Get a room if you guys wanna get it on already! PDA alert!" she told the young couple.

"Why don't you just _not_ look Rukia," Chase said back his face with a pleased expression on it.

"As if! You guys are always doing something when I see you,"

"You must like it then huh?" CJ said this time.

"Shut up, you two make me freaking sick, I'm gonna go outside and puke now, thanks," Rukia pretended to make fake gurgling noises. All three of them laughed and started on their way out of the room.

"So, Chase what period do you have French now? Rangiku and I were looking for you last period," the small teen started as they walked outside.

"I know! I have French next though, our trio is split up," the boy pouted and his lower lip stuck out.

"Stop that freak, that doesn't work on me, only on your _girlfriend_," Rukia responded back disgusted.

"I can try can't I?"

"What, are you gonna cheat on me with Rukia?" CJ questioned putting her hands on her hips.

"N-no! I was just kidding!" Chase put up his hands in defense.

"That's right bitch, who's your master?" the blue-eyed girl stated. Rukia snickered at the scene unraveling before her. The bell rang signaling that break was over and the students had 5 minutes to get to their next class.

"I'll see you guys at lunch!" Rukia called to the two still bickering teens as she walked away.

'I'm surrounded by idiots,' she thought to herself.

* * *

Humanities class went by incredibly slow for Rukia, it always did, but it was a billion times worse since she knew absolutely nobody in her class, except for a few. She was glad when the bell rang, ending her class. Her honors algebra was better. Once she stepped in she noticed a familiar white / silver haired freshman. 

"Hitsugaya! Hinamori!" Rukia exclaimed happily. She had made friends with him last semester along with another freshman, Hinamori Momo.

"Hi Rukia!" Hinamori welcomed the older girl. She was sitting next to Hitsugaya and pointed to the empty seat next to her. All the desks in the class were grouped into four.

"Kuchiki…" the boy nodded to her. For some odd reason, last semester the three used their last names for each other, except for Hinamori because she liked to call Rukia by her first name and she knew Hitsugaya since they were babies.

"So boy genius, I see we're all still together huh?" Rukia began as she sat down next to the dark haired girl.

"Yeah, I guess," Hitsugaya's green eyes looked over to the two girls.

"Rukia, I'm so glad we're all still in the same class, I'd probably fail algebra without the two of you in my group," Hinamori said with a laugh. Rukia and a few other people were sophomores in the class, but the rest were freshmen. Rukia had gotten used to the idea of it though, and Hitsugaya was probably the smartest student in the class.

"What are your classes' guys?" the raven-haired girl asked.

"I have all regular classes except this one still and they all stayed the same," the girl next to her answered with embarrassment. Rukia gave her a reassuring smile.

"It's okay, we can't all be a smart ass like this guy here," she pointed to Hitsugaya with an amused expression on her face. Hinamori giggled softly.

"Shut up, just cause I'm in a few AP classes and the rest honors classes," the white-haired boy responded back angrily, his right eye twitching.

"Oh don't be so stiff about it, chill," Rukia said waving her hand at the guy.

"Stupid sophomore…" he muttered under his breath.

"Shiro! That's not very nice!" Hinamori interjected.

"I thought I told you NEVER to call me that!" a red vein popped up on the younger teen's head.

"Oops, sorry, but Rukia is once of the nicest sophomores I've met!"

"I'm glad somebody likes me here,"

"Shut up and be quiet, or I'll just let you two fail this class,"

"Alright, alright… Hitsugaya," Rukia emphasized his name and sat back into her desk smiling along with Hinamori.

"I love math…" she added before the teacher began to take roll.

"Tch…" Hitsugaya scoffed and folded his arms across his chest with a scowl on his face.

* * *

Lunch came just in time for Rukia. She didn't know if she could take any more information on math. Yet again, she had a quiz to add on to her Friday. 

"I HATE math," she said to the other two classmates as she zipped up her backpack.

"Just study Rukia, you'll probably do fine," Hinamori said to encourage her.

"You better not call me the night before and ask me to teach you everything like last time!" Hitsugaya informed her as well, with a bit of annoyance in his voice.

"Don't worry, I'll study, that was only a one time thing Hitsugaya!" Rukia told him.

"Yeah, yeah," He and Hinamori walked out the door. The younger girl waved goodbye to Rukia and she was out of sight.

"Ahh, freshmen," she said to herself before going out to lunch as well. For the third time that day, Rukia made her way to her locker. After putting away and getting books she walked to her usual spot at lunch. Already there was CJ, Chase, Orihime, Tatsuki, and Uryuu.

"Hey guys," Rukia said to all of them.

"Rukia!" CJ began, "Orihime just told us about what happened this morning! Why didn't you tell me about this guy you ran into?!?!?!"

"Oh- uhh…" Rukia stuttered trying to find the words to say. Luckily, Rukia was saved by a ruckus caused by Rangiku. The entire group gave their attention to the event just a few feet away from them'

"Ugh, Matsumoto! Get off me! You're embarrassing!" Hitsugaya said struggling to get the junior off him.

"Come on Shiro! Why can't you just hug me once in a while?" the older girl pleaded. Hinamori was next to Hitsugaya with a nervous expression but was just watching.

"Shut the hell up! I don't have to because I practically see you every freaking day!"

"All the more that you should say hi to me," Rangiku showed no signs of letting go of the freshman in her arms. Rukia remembered that Rangiku was also close to Hitsugaya because she'd known him ever since they were young as well.

"Rangiku, please get off Shiro, he might get mad," Hinamori finally said. Trying to pry her off of the boy.

"Mad? I'm pissed off!" Hitsugaya yelled out as he was finally free from the older girl's grasp.

"You need to lighten up," Matsumoto ruffled his hair like a little kids' and smiled at him.

"Shut up Matsumoto!" Hitsugaya was fuming, he and Hinamori walked away to get food. The group that was speculating all of what had just happened busted out laughing. Rangiku made her way to the band of sophomores and smiled.

"That kid needs to stop being so grown up, he needs to be a kid once in a while," she said sighing.

"I know what you mean," Rukia replied.

"Chase! We didn't see you in French!" the junior said to the green eyed teen.

"Yeah, I have Blak 3rd now," he ran a hand through his short wavy hair.

"Sucks, well, I just wanted to say hello… bye guys," Rangiku waved and walked to her usual place for lunch.

"So, Rukia, where were we?" CJ returned to the topic. Rukia shot a look of death at Orihime who in turn smiled widely.

"It's nothing big! I just ran into the guy and he helped me up, no big deal,"

"What's his name?" Tatsuki asked.

"Ichigo… Kurosaki…" Rukia answered, Tatsuki was about to say something but was interrupted.

"Whaaat?! Rukia! I thought you didn't know his name!" Orihime jutted in.

"Well, he's in my French class and the teacher asked him to introduce himself,"

"Why do girls have to make a fuss out of everything?" Uryuu asked Chase as they watched the rest of the girls gang up on poor Rukia.

"Girls are girls, and we men will never understand them no matter what," Chase sighed. Uryuu grinned and caught sight of Renji coming toward them.

"Hey, why are they crowded around Rukia?" the red head asked, setting down his backpack on the bench.

"They're ranting about Rukia bumping into this guy this morning…" Uryuu answered.

"Ahh…" Renji nodded and stood beside Chase.

"Why is this all a big deal?" Mae questioned as she came up to the group of girls, she was holding a sandwich in her hand.

"Rukia's never shown interest in a guy!" CJ said.

"What?! I just knocked into him! I never said I liked him or had ANY interest in him!" Rukia said in defense for herself.

'I shouldn't bring up the fact that he was staring at me…' she considered to herself.

"Look! He's right there!" Orihime pointed to a tall, orange-headed teenager walking past them.

"Oh god," Rukia put a hand over her face and dragged it down showing her annoyance. All the girls looked in his direction and examined him for a moment.

"He _is_ cute…" Mae declared with approval.

"Nice job Rukia," CJ beamed at her.

"You. Guys. All. Suck. Ass." the small girl replied to her friends. Renji laughed and gave her a light hit on the back.

"Don't worry Rukia, if he breaks your heart I'll beat that bastard to the ground,"

"Renji!" Rukia punched him on the shoulder. He winced but still cracked a smile.

"Damn Rukia," Chase said to her, "you know we're just kidding,"

"Yeah, yeah,"

"It's just fun to tease you like this," CJ added on. She just rolled her eyes as a response and took out her lunch.

* * *

After lunch Rukia walked with Tatsuki to Chemistry because they had the same class together. Dr. Runner, their teacher seated the students in order of their last name. She and Tatsuki were separated but they could still make eye contact with each other. 

"Kurosaki, I thought that name sounded familiar," Tatsuki told Rukia before class started.

"I used to live in Hawaii when I was younger, I met him at the dojo I was training at,"

"Small world huh?" Rukia said.

"Pretty much," Tatsuki nodded.

The bell rang yet again and the students took their seats. Runner began to take attendance when another person stepped into the classroom.

"Oh hell," Rukia thought, she looked over across the room to Tatsuki who grinned back at her. Ichigo was standing there and gave his schedule to the teacher.

"Kurosaki eh?" Runner said, "You'll be sitting next to Kuchiki… Rukia raise your hand," Grudgingly, Rukia did as she was told and lifted up her left hand. Ichigo went over to Rukia and took the empty seat next to her.

"Umm. Hi again," he said to her rubbing the back of his head.

"Hi," Rukia said back curtly.

"Listen, about what happened in French…" he began looking down at the ground.

"Don't worry about it… you just happened to look at me and I just happened to look back…" Rukia told him. Relief washed over Ichigo, he looked at the girl next to him.

"Yes, that's exactly what happened,"

"Well, since we never really introduced ourselves properly, I'm Rukia,"

"Ichigo," he replied back with half a smile. Rukia smiled back and turned to face the teacher. Chemistry was definitely going to be an experience for both Ichigo and Rukia.

**I'm sorry if you wanted more! I know I'm kinda dragging this story on, but I wanted to put a bit of detail in the first day. So I'm a little more than 2/3 finished with Rukia's day :). Hehehe like it? So I'll be starting the next chapter now cause I wanna get it started already. Review if you like to… as a person it actually is nice to get some feedback, cause I don't know if I'm doing a crappy job or a good one hah. And so, they finally meet. :)**

**-The Bleach Guardian's Heart**


	3. Something Like You

**Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach, but I can dream.**

**Hi, so I started school up again and I hate it, because I NEVER get time to write with all the homework that gets piled up on me! But somehow I just really wanted to write this. So I got through it. Here's the 3****rd**** chapter. Hope you like it. **

**P.S. I went to the ALICIA KEYS concert 5/7/08. AMAZING. :)**

**P.S.S. I'm really really really sorry for the long wait, school can go suck it. :P haha**

**A Sophomore Life**

**Chapter 3: Something Like You**

Chemistry went by pretty quickly for Rukia. Partly because she was in her head thinking about many, many things, and partly because of Ichigo. After they introduced themselves to each other, Dr. Runner gave the class notes to copy down for about 20 minutes and he allowed them to do whatever they wanted for the rest of the period since it was the start of a new semester. Tatsuki came over to where Rukia and Ichigo were sitting.

"Hey Ichigo, remember me?" she asked to the orange headed teen.

"Tatsuki right? Of course I remember, you were the first girl to beat me at the dojo," Tatsuki smiled and laughed a bit.

"Hell yeah, that's my proudest memory back there in Hawaii,"

"How long did you live in Hawaii Tatsuki?" Rukia asked.

"Until I was about 9ish, then my family moved here,"

"Oh, I see," the smaller girl replied. Tatsuki gave a light punch to Ichigo's shoulder and went back to her table after giving Rukia a playful wink. She glared back at the retreating form of her friend.

"So, what class do you have next?" Ichigo questioned as Rukia turned back to look at him.

"Drawing/ Painting 1, how about you?"

"Health," he gave a pained face just saying that word. Rukia smiled at him. Quite cutely I might add.

"Health's not that bad, I took over summer school of my Freshman year, and it was pretty easy"

"It's not that I'm worried about, it's my dad… well he runs his own clinic, and he's a freak," Rukia laughed out loud at Ichigo's last statement.

"Come on, he can't be that bad,"

"Trust me, 15 years with that man it's amazing how I survived, he harassed me when he saw that I was taking Health this year… and started talking about me being at the right age of 'what a teenage boy should think about' in his years of high school,"

"Wow, well I'd sure like to meet your dad one day," Rukia replied back. She didn't notice Ichigo's look of surprise on his face.

"Well, yeah maybe one day,"

They talked practically almost the whole period asking about each other. It was a great experience for both Ichigo and Rukia. They had never been so interested or so connected with another person so fast. Both found out many things about each other. But the bell rang interrupting Ichigo's question for Rukia.

"Well, I'll see you around Ichigo," Rukia said to him as she walked out of class to her next period.

"Yeah, see ya," he said back as he went the opposite direction. The sides of his lips twitched upwards in a smile, for the first time in about 6 years.

Again, as Rukia passed through the halls, she put in her earphones and listened to her ipod on her way to Drawing/Painting1. She scrolled through her songs, trying to decide that to listen to. After looking through her list of 657 songs, she finally chose "Before It's Too Late," by The Goo Goo Dolls. It was Sam and Mikaela's theme from Transformers. She remembered the day she watched Transformers in theaters with Orihime, Mae and CJ during the summer as a girls' night out. All three of them absolutely loved it. It was definitely one of their favorites. Rukia liked Sam and Mikaela as a couple, she thought they were cute.

_I wondered through fiction to look for the truth  
Buried beneath all the lies  
And I stood at a distance  
To feel who you are  
Hiding myself in your eyes_

And hold on before it's too late  
Until we leave this behind  
Don't fall just be who you are  
It's all that we need in our lives

And the risk that might break you  
Is the one that would save  
A life you dont live is still lost  
So stand on the edge with me  
Hold back your fear and see  
Nothing is real til it's gone

The hallways were crowded again as all of the students headed towards the last period of the day. Rukia was glad that she was short and small for once, because she could easily slip pas people who were walking incredibly slowly in front of her.

"Geez, some people actually have to get somewhere here!" she thought.

_  
And hold on before its too late  
Until we leave this behind  
Don't fall just be who you are_

It's all that we need in our lives

So live like you mean it  
Love til you feel it  
It's all that we need in our lives  
So stand on the edge with me  
Hold back your fear and see  
Nothing is real til it's gone

Hold on before its too late  
Until we leave this behind  
Don't fall just be who you are  
It's all that we need in our lives

Hold on before its too late  
Until we leave this behind  
Don't fall just be who you are  
It's all that we need in our lives

It's all that we need in our lives  
It's all that I need in my life

Her song ended exactly as she walked into room 165 and immediately saw a crowd of students around the front desk. Rukia was curious to see what everyone was looking at and went towards the group of people. She caught sight of a seating chart when a few people scooted over to the side to let her through. Her violet eyes scanned the sheet of paper to look for her name. After finding it she walked to where her seat was indicated, set her backpack down and sat down in a black stool. The art room was organized with a huge white board at the front of the class, 5 longs gray tables spread out evenly with six stools around each, drawings and paintings from previous years hanging around the walls and cabinets surrounds the rest of the empty spaces. Rukia took a look around to see if she actually knew anybody.

Only unfamiliar faces met her eyes.

"Great," she thought rolling her eyes, "I'm a freaking loner in this class," The second bell rang and most of the students were already seated. A tall, older teenage boy took the empty seat next to Rukia. She looked up and found her self gazing at his face. It was an exact replica of Ichigo. However, this guy seemed to be a more older, and mature looking version. He had green eyes instead of brown, and black spikey hair instead of bright orange.

"Kaien!" another voice called Rukia away from her gaze.

"Hey, Miyako," Kaien replied back. A girl with long dark brown/black hair smiled and took the seat diagonal from Rukia which was also directly across from Kaien.

"I'm so glad we're in the same class!"

"Yeah, it's cool,"

"Hello class," Mr. Bidecor stated in a monotone voice, interrupting the little conversation they had, "this class is Drawing/Painting 1, make sure you are in the right class, I wouldn't want anyone repeating the same class two times in a row… I'm going to take roll and then get started on telling you the expectations of this class. Bidecor began to read off the names and a bunch of "here's" responded.

"Rukia"

"Here"

"Kaien"

"Here"

"Kim"

"Here"

"Miyako"

"Here"

"Okay then, does everyone have a course outline?" The class all nodded silently and Mr. Bidecor went on however, Rukia tuned him out. Her attention was on the boy next to her.

"Is this guy somehow related to Ichigo?" she wondered to herself, but before she could get too caught up in her thoughts, she noticed Mr. Bidecor stopped talking.

"So at least 36 pictures by next Thursday?" Miyako questioned Kaien.

"Yeah, guess so, it really shouldn't be too hard, I mean look at all the things listed here," Rukia looked down at the piece of paper infront of her. Sure enough there were at least 20 types of catagories listed that she had to get from magazines. The small girl sighed and rested her chin on her hand.

"So Kaien, how's life?" Miyako began. Rukia's eyes shifted toward Kaien inconspicuously, the poor girl didn't mean to evesdrop, but she knew no one else and had nothing else to do, so she kept quiet and listened.

"Good, I have Spanish 4th now though, Profe absolutely hates me!" the older teen smirked at his last remark.

"It's alright, Profe loves me,"

"Thanks for the comfort…"

"No Problem," the dark haired girl scoffed making the both of them smile.

"What about you?" Kaien asked, changing the subject, "How are you and…. Uhh… Saiko doing?"

"We're fine, and nothing much, basically all the same classes and teachers,"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yep,"

"That's nice,"

"Yes it sure is…" Rukia would have said something to the two because of their ridiculous conversation.

"Freaking upperclassmen," she thought to herself, she took another glance at Kaien before taking out her iPod from her pocket.

* * *

The rest of the period, Rukia just listened to her iPod because there was really nothing else to do. The last bell rang and she, along with everyone else exited the art class. Rukia walked through the hallways again and made her way back to her locker. Down the aisle she spotted CJ putting away her books in her locker. When she was done she walked up to Rukia and stood next to her.

"We're finally done!"

"With only the first day!" Rukia finished for her, setting her APEC book into her backpack.

"Well, I see it this way, Miss Pesimistic, it's one day closer to summer," Rukia narrowed her eyes down and pressed her lips together, trying to seem pissed off. CJ just bursted out laughing, which broke Rukia's attempt at being mad, because she joined in on the laughing.

"Freaking A! You guys are so loud!" Mae interrupted causing the two girls to turn around.

"Yeah, and…?" CJ asked putting a hand on her hip.

"Just saying, I could hear you two giggling from all the way across the quad!" the dark haired girl said smirking.

"Only valley girls giggle that loud," Rukia replied back.

"Like Oh My God, Rukia! We soooo do not giggle!" CJ said in her best valley girl accent.

"Like Oh Ehhm Gee! I know we don't! Mae is just sooooo jealous of us," Rukia played along.

"Yeah, Mae, like stop being sooooo jealous of us!"

"Like, I'm going to sock the both of you in the face if you don't STFU," Mae put on a fake smile, and all three of them laughed.

"Well, we're just so awesome," CJ said returning back to her normal voice.

"Hell yeah we are" Rukia said back.

"If you guys talked like that for real, I wouldn't be your friend," Mae scoffed.

"Hey Rukia, we should try talking like valley girls for one whole day," CJ suggested.

"Oh my gosh! We should!" Rukia agreed.

"Hell _freaking_ No!" the taller girl yelled out.

"We're just kidding…" Rukia smacked Mae on the arm.

"Yeah yeah, you guys better be," she answered back, crossing her arms over her chest.

"So, anything exciting happen besides your new crush Rukia?" CJ started with a smile on her face.

"Well, there is this guy in my Drawing and Painting class…." The shorter girl said as if it were nothing and looked in the other direction.

"WHAT?!" Mae and CJ both shouted out loud at the same time.

"You better tell us NOW!" Mae demanded, CJ nodded in agreement. Rukia smirked before starting.

"Okay, so his name's Kaien. He sits next to me in that class. He's either a junior or senior but he looks exactly like Ichigo, just witth black hair and green eyes. It kinda caught my attention…"

"Damn Rukia, I didn't know that you'd fall for two guys in one day!" CJ exclaimed.

"Shut up."

"You have to show him to us," Mae added.

"If I can find him in this huge ass school, then I will,"

"Don't worry, I have faith in you," CJ replied back.

"Oh thanks you guys…" Rukia said at she rolled her eyes at her two friends. The trio walked to the front of the school.

* * *

Once Rukia got home she went upstairs dropped her backpack on the floor and jumped onto her bed face down. The girl buried her face in a pillow. She would have fallen asleep right there, but her mind was racing with a million things in it. She turned her head to the side and let her hair fall over her face. Her clock read 3:58. Sighing, Rukia decided to do what any other normal teenager did in their day… turned on the computer. She plopped down on her chair and waited for the monitor to warm up.

"Hmm…. I wonder if he has a myspace…" Rukia thought to herself. She signed on to myspace and AIM and clicked the search button for myspace. The keys made clacking sounds as she typed in the name 'Ichigo Kurosaki' on the blank bar, and she clicked search. Sure enough the very first thing to come up was a picture of that orange-haired boy that had run into her this morning. She clicked that and found herself on his myspace page.

"Damn, it's on private…"

The usual "This person's profile is on Private. You must add him/her as a friend…" was at the top of the page. But you could still see his picture quote and status.

"Nothing can come of nothing" was his quote. Rukia recognized it from Shakespeare.

"Ichigo is currently tired." Read his status. Rukia noticed that the "online now" icon was there.

"I shouldn't…" she muttered to herself. Five seconds later she clicked on "Home" and the page went to her home page. She sighed again… she had _almost_ added him.

"What the hell is wrong with me?! I just met him today!" she clicked on her profile and her song on it began to play.

_"Welcome to the real world", she said to me  
Condescendingly  
Take a seat  
Take your life  
Plot it out in black and white  
Well I never lived the dreams of the prom kings  
And the drama queens  
I'd like to think the best of me  
Is still hiding  
Up my sleeve_

Rukia's profile picture was of her, CJ, Mae, Orihime and Tatsuki. All of them were smiling and looking directly at the camera. That photo had been taken at Rukia's birthday about 3 weeks ago. January 14th, she turned the big 1-6.

Her quote said "We Fear That Which We Cannot See" Chappy the Rabbit was her background and it covered the entire page. Rukia scrolled down to her "About Me" and re-read it.

They love to tell you  
Stay inside the lines  
But something's better  
On the other side

I wanna run through the halls of my high school  
I wanna scream at the  
Top of my lungs  
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world  
just to lie you've got to rise above

So the good boys and girls take the so called right track  
Faded white hats  
Grabbing credits  
Maybe transfers  
They read all the books but they can't find the answers  
And all of our parents  
They're getting older  
I wonder if they've wished for anything better  
While in their memories  
Tiny tragedies

"Hi There" it began. "I'm Rukia

16 years of age

Family and Friends are what keep me together

I currently am a sophomore at KHS

January 14th is my favorite day of the year

As you can tell… I like Chappy the Rabbit…. A Lot :).

Violet and White are my two favorite colors

Yes, I'm short, and I've heard every single short joke known to man

So don't rub it in.

Boys are STUPID. No offense Chase.

And that's just the beginning."

They love to tell you  
Stay inside the lines  
But something's better  
On the other side

I wanna run through the halls of my high school  
I wanna scream at the  
Top of my lungs  
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world  
Just a lie you got to rise above

Underneath that it read:  
"-Mae, CJ, Orihime, and Tatsuki were here on 1/6/08. Rukia is a freak who has no life, but we still love her!-

Rukia smiled and rested her chin on her right hand. Her violet eyes made its way down to the bottom right corner of the screen. 4:21.

"I should probably start my homework now…" She closed the internet box and put an away message on AIM. Then she opened up her iTunes and clicked on a random song to listen to. She jumped onto her bed again and landed face down on her pillows. Her body sprawled out lazily.

_  
I am invincible  
As long as I'm alive_

I wanna run through the halls of my high school  
I wanna scream at the  
Top of my lungs  
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world  
Just to lie you've got to rise above

I just can't wait til my 10 year reunion  
I'm gonna bust down the double doors  
And when I stand on these tables before you  
You will know what all this time was for

"I'll just take a little nap" a yawn escaped from her lips and her eyes slowly closed. The sound of the song playing disappeared into silence. Her mind drifted back onto her very eventful day as she fell asleep.

**It's been a while :(. I know, well finally chap. 3 is up, hope you liked it. If you're wondering, Alicia Keys was the best ever. Haha I loved it. Anyway Chap. 4 is in the works so have faith in me for an update! Thanks for reading! Oh and the songs in this were:**

**1) Before Its' Too Late –The Goo Goo Dolls**

**2) No Such Thing –John Mayer**

**Okie dokie then, until next time!**

**-The Bleach Guardian's Heart**


	4. Dreaming Out Loud

Disclaimer: Still Don't Own Bleach

**Disclaimer: Still Don't Own Bleach. I forgot to add in my last chapter that I don't own Myspace… I don't know if I had to do that or not… but better to be safe than sorry!**

**Hi! So here's chapter 4! I'm officially done with MY Sophomore Year… I'm now a Junior. Gaah. I better get this story going. I'll be in summer school again but since I get out at around 12, I think I'll have MORE TIME! Yay! Be happy! More updates hopefully. But sadly, I have AP assignments over summer -- taking AP Bio and APEL next year. Ugh. Well here ya go. Enjoy.**

**A Sophomore Life**

**Chapter 4: Dreaming Out Loud**

Rukia was at lunch, eating next day, when Ichigo came up to her.

"Hey Rukia, could I talk to you for a second?" he asked.

"Oh, uhh sure Ichigo," she replied back, ignoring the smirks and stares of her friends behind her. She followed Ichigo trying to suppress the urge to give her friends the finger.

"So, what's up?" the girl asked once they got to a secluded area.

"Ummm I was wondering…" he began, his gaze was fixed on the floor and his hands were fidgeting.

"Hmmm?" Rukia smirked, but at the same time she could feel her heart speed up a tad bit.

"Would you….like to…"

"mmmm?"

"go out and…."

Rukia held her breath.

"get some Spider Monkeys?"

"….Spider Monkeys…. WHAT THE HELL?!" Rukia practically yelled out in shock, her mouth hung open.

"Yeah, so what do you say Rukia?" Ichigo said back.

"Uhh…."  
"Rukia?"

"Rukia?!" Ichigo's voice suddenly became higher in pitch, almost like her sister's voice….

"RUKIAAA!!" Rukia's eyes shot open in alarm as she sat up.

"HUH? WHAA? SPIDER MONKEYS?!" she shouted out looking around frantically.

"Spider Monkeys?" Hisana replied with one eyebrow raised up. The younger sister blinked a couple of times, focusing on her sister before she said anything.

"Uhh, yeah, about that... never mind, it was just a weird dream…"

"I see… well anyway, did you finish your homework?" the older sister asked, changing the subject.

"Oh crap… what time is it?!" Rukia turned to look at her alarm clock; it read back 7:02. She exhaled loudly and began to shuffle through her backpack. Hisana laughed softly as she got up and walked towards the door.

"I'll call you when dinner's ready,"

"Okay, thanks Hisana" the younger girl replied as her sister stepped out of her room. Rukia's fingers grasped her APEC book and she set it out before her.

**-3 ½ Hours Later-**

Rukia lay down on her bed once again, her stomach was full and she was all dressed for bed. The same pajamas that she had on that morning were clinging on her slender body. Her eyes were just closing when her cell phone began to ring.

"Damnit!" she said softly before getting her phone. She looked over her screen and it was an unfamiliar number. She sat up Indian style on her bed and answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi…. Rukia?" a deeper voice replied. She seemed to recognize it, but she wasn't sure…

"Yeah…?"

"It's Ichigo… sorry for calling so late,"

Rukia sucked in a surprised gasp as his name repeated in her mind.

"Is everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah it is, sorry; you just caught me off guard there,"

"Sorry, well anyway, I called to ask you if we had any French or Chem homework,"

"No, we didn't, not yet anyways,"

"Okay thanks,"

"Ichigo…?" Rukia said hesitantly. She was either going to ask him how he got her number, or if he had ANY intention to ask her to go get some Spider Monkeys with him.

"Yeah?" a couple seconds of silence passed between them.

"Umm, never mind," She couldn't do it; she didn't want to make the conversation awkward…. As much as it was.

"Oh, uhh, okay then, see you tomorrow,"

"Yeah, see you," Rukia closed her phone shut. She could feel her heart beating fast. Staring into the darkness of her room, a million things crashed upon her mind. She spoke four words to herself,

"Ichigo just called me…" she fell back onto her bed and her head laid on the pillows.

_Say the things you say  
and you're dreaming like you do.  
You know, sometimes circles run around you.  
Hey now lets be honest,  
I really think it's true.  
You know sometimes we all bend the rules._

_  
You've run with life,  
you've been around.  
You love to live to hate this town.  
And I hope and dream just like you do.  
Yeah, we've been here twice before,  
you want it to mean so much more.  
And I hope that every thing goes through._

_  
She goes to California, oh.  
California is not so far.  
When I close my eyes and wonder where you are,  
and you wish upon a star,  
two thousand miles doesn't seem so far.  
_

Rukia's violet eyes opened, looking up at her ceiling. Her mind registered the events of last night in a matter of seconds and she immediately checked her phone to make sure she didn't dream it all up. Sure enough, that unfamiliar number showed up first on her received call list.

"Oh hell," she said to herself, putting her palm to her forehead. Her mind now drifted to thinking what her friends would say when they found out. She knew that they would all find out sooner or later because they knew how to get EVERYTHING out of her. She learned to just be open and tell them since she could trust them, even though they were all crazy. Yep, today was going to be a very long and exhausting day for her. She glanced at her clock and it read 6:45, telling her to get her ass up and get ready for school. She walked past her alarm, not bothering to turn it off because she liked the song and went to her bathroom. The lyrics and music was a bit muffled once she was in her bathroom but she could still understand it because she had listened to it so many times.

_  
Play the games you play.  
You win, sometimes you lose.  
You know sometimes walls run into you,  
now you've got me thinking,  
and I really think it's true.  
That the sun shines sometimes just for you._

_  
You've run with life,  
you've been around.  
You love to live to hate this town.  
And I hope and dream just like you do.  
Yeah, we've been here twice before,  
you want it to mean so much more.  
And I hope that everything goes through._

_  
She goes to California, oh.  
California is not so far.  
When I close my eyes and wonder where you are,  
and you wish upon a star,  
two thousand miles doesn't seem so far.  
So far, so far, so far..._

Just when Rukia put her socks on, the song ended. She got up, turned off the alarm, took her ipod, and placed it into her pocket. Her outfit today was a simple black t-shirt she got from Need for Speed, a go kart racing place, and faded blue jeans, that didn't intend to emphasize anything, but it did… She grabbed her backpack and a white jacket before leaving her room.

Rukia arrived at school once again; the cold morning air hit her face. She waved bye to Hisana as she drove away. Turning to her high school, she took out her ipod and placed the earphones in her ears, putting the songs on shuffle.

"Day 2," she thought to herself. The first song that came up was 'Giving it Away' by Mae. Rukia remembered when she first met Mae last year she would sing Mae (the band) songs to her. Mae would always get annoyed, but got used to it as they got to be closer friends. Rukia smiled thinking back to those days. She was going to definitely sing one to her again today just for kicks.

_And by the way you brought me here,  
it makes me believe the best is still yet to come and I don't want to leave.  
Forgive my hesitation but I'm learning to trust in you.  
Help me to dream these dreams because I don't have a clue._

And if you'd be honest and say what you mean  
you know I would promise I'd do anything  
because I know that without you I'm giving it away.

Is this what you wanted?  
'Cause I'm willing to change.  
Now that I'm certain,  
that there's much more to gain.  
You've introduced me to the moment  
oh but I'm looking to stay for good.  
You asked me to stay forever.  
Well, you know that I would, I would do anything.

And if you'd be honest and say what you mean  
you know I would promise I'd do anything  
'Cause I know that without you I'm giving it away.

Rukia finished putting away and getting books from her locker when a deep voice startled her.

"Daaamn! Nice Ass!" Rukia was about to badmouth whoever said that to her as she turned around. However, she realized who it was. Spiky red hair tied up.

"Renji! You stupid Bitch!" Rukia said half amused, but mostly angry, she punched him rather hard on his left arm.

"Sorry, gaaahhh, it was their freaking idea!" Renji winced and pointed to a group of people now laughing hysterically. It was no other than CJ, Mae, Tatsuki, and Orihime. Chase and Uryuu were standing silently, but were smiling.

"HAHA," the victim laughed along sarcastically.

"You guys are just SOOO FUNNY,"

"You know it," Tatsuki replied. Rukia scoffed and shook her head. Why did she have to be friends with them? Why?

The bell rang before Rukia could say anything else, and everyone went their separate ways, except for Rukia and Mae who walked together to their APEC class.

_  
"The nights are forever and maybe I'm wrong,  
but it feels like I'm so lost without you.  
So I step towards the heat, it's the way I can see,  
and it makes me believe that it's you."  
_

Rukia sang that stanza to Mae.

"Aww, what the hell? I thought you were over that singing stage to me!" Mae huffed.

"But I find it cool that you have a band named after you Mae!"

"Yeah, but I don't really listen to their music,"

"You should,"

"Umm, no"

"Fine, be that way,"

"Fine, I will be,"

_  
"And by the way you brought me here  
it makes me believe the best is still yet to come and I don't want to leave,  
I won't, but anyway..."_

Rukia sang another stanza to her friend. Mae glared back. Rukia smiled widely and laughed a bit.

"You know you love it when I sing to you,"

"I would if your voice didn't sound like shit," Rukia gasped overdramatically.

"Are you saying that I can't sing?!"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying, got a problem?" Mae smart mouthed back.

"Yes, in fact I do," Rukia crossed her arms.

"Well, that sounds like a personal problem to me," the two friends laughed together and entered into their class.

If you'd be honest and say what you mean  
you know I would promise I'd do anything  
And the nights are forever, I can't get to sleep  
'Cause I know there's a reason I'm in this too deep  
And I'm sure that without you, I'm giving it away, yeah.

I'm giving it away...

APEC was slow once again; it was after all the second day of class. Mae and Rukia walked to their different classes. The short girl walked into her French class and was attacked by Rangiku.

"Rukia! Rukia! Rukia!!" the older girl said excitedly to her.

"Uhh, yeah what Rangiku?" Rukia answered back.

"Ichigo asked me for your number last night,"

"Oh, so that's where he got it…" the sophomore said thoughtfully.

"Wait… he CALLED YOU LAST NIGHT?!" Rangiku practically yelled out.

"Umm, actually…. Yeah he did." Rukia finally admitted. Rangiku squealed in delight.

"AHH! Rukia! THAT'S SO CUTE! HE LOVES YOU!"

"Hey hey! I know that I did say NOTHING of that sort," Rukia defended herself, "Besides, how did he my number from you anyway?"

"Good question, well it seems that Ichigo knew my boyfriend from before and he saw us after school yesterday and remembered me, then he asked for your number," the junior explained.

"So, I see,"

"So what did you guys talk about?"

"He just asked me if we had any French or Chemistry homework,"

"You have Chemistry with him?!"

"Yep"

"Woo hoo, score for Rukia!"

"Rangiku stop it!" the older girl poked Rukia playfully and made unnecessary noises. Rukia sighed and put her stuff down at her desk. She looked around and relief spread over her as she realized that Ichigo wasn't in class yet. Luckily he didn't have to witness Rangiku's ranting. The bell rang, forcing Rangiku to calm down because class started. Ichigo came into the room just a couple seconds after and took his seat. Rangiku gave a smirk and winked at Rukia before turning around to face the front of the class. Jenna turned to Rukia and whispered to her.

"Did Ichigo really call you Rukia?"

"Mmm, yeah he did," Jenna flashed a smile.

"That's nice," Rukia shook her head. News travels fast, especially when you're with Rangiku because she yells everything out that you tell her.

French passed by rather quickly this time, Rukia caught Ichigo looking at her again from the corner of her eye. His orange hair distracted her from paying attention to Madame Black's lecture, but the bell rang once again and she made her way to her humanities class, happy to be out of Rangiku's questions…until lunch that is.

Mr. Gorgan wasn't in class today so they had a sub in humanities, they just watched part of a movie, Rukia was glad that she didn't really know anybody in his class because no one questioned her about her romantic affairs.

Math class was also free, Hitsugaya and Hinamori didn't even know anything about Rukia's guy _problems_, and she was sure that if Rangiku told Hitsugaya, he would have told her to stop being so nosy with other people's business. Unfortunately, they had to take notes most of the time again and by the end of the period she felt as if her head was going to explode… again. The two freshmen she befriended left for lunch as she was packing up.

"See you tomorrow Rukia!" Hinamori said.

"Bye!"

Rukia walked slowly to her locker, she wanted to waste as much time as she could. She didn't want to tell everything to her friends just yet, because of Rangiku's outburst.

"Damnit, CJ's definitely going to never let me forget it," she thought. She turned the corner to her locker but immediately tried to turn around. CJ was still at her locker putting her books away.

"Rukia!" CJ had seen her.

"Crap," Rukia put on a smile and went to her locker.

"Hi CJ,"

"Did you like this morning?" her friend grinned.

"Oh yeah, of course I did," Rukia replied back mockingly.

"Great, come on let's go to the bench,"

"Yeah…" Rukia closed her locker and walked with CJ, she prayed that they wouldn't ask any questions about Ichigo. But fate just wouldn't have that.

**Cliffhanger? A small one. Don't worry I'll have the next chapter up soon :). I swear. Anyway here's chapter 4 hope you liked it, but i'm sorry it's a bit short. Ohh well, yay Summer! P.s. my birthday's coming up :). Review if you'd like to. Well, until next time!**

**-The Bleach Guardian's Heart**

**Songs used here: "I Loved the Way she said L.A." -Spitalfield and "Giving it Away" -Mae**


	5. Simple, Starving to be Safe

**Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite :). He's pretty awesome… and probably rich hah.**

**Hi there! I'm back, but sadly, im not going to Comic Con this year! --. I'll be up in Northern Cali, I'm soo sad! I planned on getting a whole bunch of BLEACH STUFF! GAAH, ohh well, my cousins who ARE going are gonna get me stuff :). But it's not the same / as going. Oh well, here's the next chapter! Enjoy.**

**A Sophomore Life**

**Chapter 5: Simple, Starving to be Safe**

Lunch was utterly and completely a hellhole for Rukia. She thought she could evade the interrogation by being quiet, but that just did the opposite. CJ and Mae teamed up against her.

"Ruuuukiaaa!!" CJ started.

"Why are you so quite hmmmm??" Mae added, the two girls leaning towards her.

"Yeah, quit dreaming about your strawberry boyfriends and come here," CJ finished. She motioned for her to come over to the rest of the group.

'So much for being quiet…' Rukia thought to herself.

"Speaking of which," Mae brought up again, "anything exciting happened between you two in the past 24 hours that you've known each other?" Now all the girls had their eyes on Rukia, she inwardly sighed, beginning to accept that she couldn't hide it forever. She opened her mouth to answer them, but a 'certain' loud junior came bounding up to the band of sophomores.

"RUKIAAAA!!" she yelled out, catching everyone's attention around her.

"Freaking A! Damnit! This day just keeps on getting better and better!" the poor petite girl thought sarcastically and exasperatedly.

"So, finish telling me about your conversation with him last night!" Rangiku said a little too loudly. The sound of Rukia smacking her forehead with her hand was accompanied with gasps of her friends.

"WHAT?! WHAT CONVERSATION?!" Orihime questioned.

"Yeah! With… who?!" CJ said. Then, as if God had stopped time, everyone paused and gaped at Rukia as if she had just grown a second head from her neck. They all were thinking the same thing.

"Rukia…" Tatsuki began, breaking the silence.

"Did _ICHIGO _call you yesterday?" Orihime finished.

Pause.

"…yeah…" Rukia said quietly, as her fingers opened up so her violet eyes could be seen and the rest of her hand covered her face.

_3…2…1…_

"OH MY GOD." All of the girls yelled out simultaneously, almost making Rukia fall down because of intensity of their shouting. Even the guys showed their surprise, their eyes were a bit bigger than normal.

"Oops, you didn't tell them yet?" Rangiku asked Rukia.

"Nope…" she replied back sighing. The older girl gave a laugh and then the interrogation began. Rukia tried to run, but Tatsuki and Mae went after her, caught her, and dragged her back.

"Noo! You'll never take me alive!" the small girl wailed comically.

"Too late for that," Tatsuki smirked as she and Mae shoved her in the center of the girl circle. She had no way out, her so called friends blocked her every direction. Sighing in defeat, Rukia look at them and finally began to speak.

"Okay, okay, so he DID call me last night, I was just falling asleep when my phone rang…" and she explained the rest of the story them. Once she was done, there was another pause. Orihime was the one she broke the silence this time.

"Aww Rukia! That's cute!"

"I thought there'd be more action…." CJ said smiling.

"Orihime, how is it in any way cute that he called me?" Rukia asked back, "I mean, come on! He just called me about homework!"

"Maybe he just wanted to hear your voice because he just happened to fall MADLY in LOVE with you, like love at first sight!" Mae added on smirking like there was no tomorrow.

"Oh yeah, that's definitely the reason why he called me," the victim said her voice thick with sarcasm.

"Looks like you have a stalker there Rukia," Chase told her. Renji was behind him nodding, but she could see that they were both trying to hide their amusement.

"Mental note, kill Chase and Renji by shooting them in the face later…" she contemplated to herself.

"You know Rukia, I do have many plans in my head right now, and I can make Kurosaki disappear…" Uryuu said while pushing up his glasses, making him look oddly sinister.

"Uhh, yeaaah, thanks…Uryuu but I don't think that's really necessary…" Rukia replied back, giving a nervous laugh. Ishida was a very clever kid, and he could outsmart almost anybody. Rukia didn't think getting rid of Ichigo would be good, or rather help her in this situation. Besides, she didn't really want him to go anyway…

"Rukia!" Rangiku snapped her out of her thoughts, "Strawberry at 12 o'clock!"

"Whaaat?!" all the girls BUT Rukia said, and turned in the direction that Rangiku said. Rukia on the other hand looked up to the sky and pretended not to hear her. Luckily for her, the bell rang, ending lunch, and her worst part of the day.

"Thank you God!" Rukia said out loud. She was just about to grab her backpack off the floor when someone already got it for her.

"Noooope, you're still not off the hook from this missy!" Tatsuki told her, clutching her backpack in her hands.

"Damnit,"

"That's exactly what you would say…"

"Bitch,"

"That too,"

"…."

"Talk!" Tatsuki demanded as the two walked to Chemistry.

"What else is there to say?! He just called me, that's it!"

"Hmm, well ok, I believe you, for now, it's only the second day…"

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Ohh, nothing…"

"Wha? Tatsuki! Tell me now!" Rukia ordered. The taller girl saw an even taller boy with orange hair just ahead of them.

"Oh look! There's you're boyfriend now! You'd better go and talk to him!" Tatsuki said changing the subject.

"Huh...? Wait, he's not my b-" Rukia was cut off mid sentence as her friend pushed her up towards Ichigo. Rukia grunted as she hit his back. He turned around and looked at her.

"Oh, hey Ichigo… I'm so sorry, I got pushed…" Rukia said lamely, she looked behind her and Tatsuki gave her a lame thumbs up. She made another mental note to add Tatsuki to her list of people to shoot later.

"No problem," Ichigo replied back, "wanna walk to Chem with me?"

"S-sure!" the two went off, a little faster pace towards their class. Rukia looked back and she couldn't see Tatsuki and relaxed a little bit.

"Listen…" Ichigo started, "I'm really sorry that I called you a little late last night, but I wasn't really sure if we had homework or not,"

"Don't worry about it, it's better to be safe than sorry,"

"Yeah, that's true," Ichigo stuffed his hands into his pockets and inhaled.

"So…" Rukia started this time, trying to keep up the small talk, "how'd you like your second day here so far?"

"It was okay… except I had a pop quiz in math, other than that it was pretty much fine,"

"I see…" Rukia looked up at Ichigo's face and noticed a bruise and a small cut on his cheek. "What happened there?" she asked.

"Oh, this?" he touched the side of his face, "blame my dad,"

"Abuse?"

"Hardly… today he kicked me in the face to wake me up… he acts like a little kid! I sometimes wonder how I'm related to him at times," Rukia laughed a little bit.

"So basically this happens to you everyday?"

"Yeah… don't worry, I'm used to it, I'm kinda glad he does it because it's made me a bit stronger and faster reflexes,"

"I see…"

"Yep," The two arrived at their class so their conversation ended there. They sat down in their seats and Rukia spotted Tatsuki walking in just as the bell rang. She took her seat and smiled widely at Rukia making eye gestures. Ichigo and Rukia couldn't talk to rest of the period because Runner gave them notes to copy down the whole time. She didn't even know what they were learning about, but she'd probably find out later since after doing the worksheet she'd understand whatever they were learning. The bell rang again Rukia got all her things and began to walk out the door.

"See you tomorrow," Ichigo said to her.

"Yeah, see ya," Rukia replied back smiling, Ichigo returned it with a half smile. She turned and felt her cheeks heat up.

"What the hell damnit?" she asked herself. To calm herself down, Rukia put her earphones in and listened to her ipod.

_Lately I've been thinking so strangely about the clouds  
and how they seem to slowly fade away, yeah...  
Maybe some day we will find a way to disappear.  
Just me and you on silver lining dreams._

Ohh how could I survive without your love  
and the hope you bring.  
Ohh even when the sky is falling down, I know I have you, and it's all I need.

The simple and calming melody of the song allowed Rukia to quiet down. Her mind slowed down and she just listened to the music. The acoustic guitars and the soothing percussion beat probably was the cause of it. She looked on and passed by the students walking to their next class of the day not really having a care. The thoughts of lunch was in the back of her head.

Lately I've been hoping you can stay with me  
And I could hold you close till the end of time...yeah.  
Maybe someday we will grab some change and run away  
but for now I'll learn to say goodbye

Ohh how could I survive without your love  
and the hope you bring.  
Ohh even when the world is breaking down, I know I have you, and it's all I need.

Ohh she is my everything  
ohh she is all I need..  
Ohh she is my everything...  
ohh she is all I need.

Ohh how could I survive without your love  
and the hope you bring.  
Ohh even when the world just falls apart, I know I have you, and it's all I need.

Rukia walked into her drawing and painting class to find mostly everyone in their seats already, she went to hers and sat down. Seconds later Kaien and Miyako took theirs as well. The bell rang again and Bidecor stood up in front of the class.

"Today, class, we're going to do a simple task that will be due by next Monday," his monotone voice filled the classroom. He clarified the details of the assignment and passed out the papers. It was a shading sheet with directions of different styles of shading: Hatching, Cross-hatching, True Tone, and Stippling. The showed examples of how to do each and allowed the class the rest of the class period to work on it. Rukia took out a pencil and began with the rest of the class. She was about to put in her ipod again when Kaien and Miyako began talking to each other.

"Hey Miyako, how was your day?" the older boy said.

"Fine, I saw you at lunch, but I was too lazy to say hi," she said smiling towards the end.

"Oh, I get it you're too cool to say hi to me now huh?"

"No, it's not that, it's Saiko, he gets jealous easily!"

"Ohhh, boyfriend."

"Yeah,"

"Anyway, my day was fine too, thanks for asking,"

"Hah, you and your ego Kaien,"

"Of course…"

Rukia got tired of listening again and turned on her music.

_Pardon me while I burst..._

A decade ago,  
I never thought I would be,  
at twenty-three, on the verge of  
spontaneous combustion. -Woe-is-me.-  
But I guess that it comes  
with the territory,  
An ominous landscape of  
never-ending calamity.  
I need you to hear,  
I need you to see  
that I have had all I can take and  
exploding seems like a DEFINITE possibility  
to me.

So pardon me while I burst  
into flames.  
I've had enough of the world  
and its people's mindless games.  
So pardon me while I burn  
and rise above the flame.  
Pardon me, pardon me...  
I'll never be the same!

Not two days ago,  
I was having a look  
in a book  
and I saw a picture of a guy  
fried up above his knee.  
I said, "I can relate,"  
cause lately I've been thinking of combustication  
as a welcome vacation from  
the burdens of  
the planet Earth.  
like gravity, hypocrisy,  
and the perils of being in 3-D...  
but thinking so much differently.

Pardon me while I burst  
into flames.  
I've had enough of the world  
and its people's mindless games.  
So pardon me while I burn  
and rise above the flame.  
Pardon me, pardon me...  
I'll never be the same!

Never be the same, yeah...  
Pardon me, while I burst into flames...  
Pardon me, pardon me, pardon me.

So pardon me while I burst  
into flames.  
I've had enough of the world  
and its people's mindless games.  
So pardon me while I burn  
and rise above the flame.  
Pardon me, pardon me...  
I'll never be the same!

Never be the same, yeahh!!

The rest of the class time flew by and it was the end of the day before Rukia knew it. She was glad, she had had enough of today. She put everything away in her bag and left the classroom noticing Kaien and Miyako giving each other a goodbye hug.

"Hmm, they'd make a nice couple…" she pondered but thought no more of it. She was ready to go home and get away from school.

**Done! Haha well with this chapter anyway, like it? It came off the top of my head :). Thanks to ****ChibiKitty 14 for being the only one to review last chapter hahaha. :P So Birthday countdown: one week :D:D:D:D.**

**Expect another chapter soon! I like it when I can update faster than I usually do don't you? Until next time!**

**-The Bleach Guardian's Heart**

**Songs:**

**1) "Simple, Starving to be Safe" –Daphne Loves Derby**

**2) "Pardon Me" -Incubus**


	6. Naive

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, i can only wish on stars for that.**

**Oh god, you guys must HATE ME. I'm SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY!! I got super busy once my birthday came along! I hope you'll forgive me for neglecting this story and not updating!**

**I'll cut my ranting short to my birthday was awesome, and I had one of the best nights of my life this summer. Other stuff happened, but you want to get to the story now don't you? Yes you do.**

**A Sophomore Life**

**Chapter 6: Naive**

Rukia got home, glad that she didn't have a ton of homework to do. She needed to rest after a long an eventful day at school. It was only her second day too. After school it was only her and Mae because CJ and Chase left to walk to the movies for their 'date'. Mae didn't really question Rukia as much about Ichigo, she was probably keeping it all to herself since Rukia saw the looks that she was giving. The kind of ones that annoy you when you know what the person is thinking about. They talked about everything else while they waited on a bench for their rides to pick them up. Rukia was walking towards Hisana's car when she saw it and Mae finally said something to piss her off.

"Make sure that you call me first if _he_ happens to call you again tonight!" Mae called to the retreating form of her friend. Rukia turned around and glared and again forced the urge to do an unnecessary gesture down. Mae smirked triumphantly in response. Rukia stepped into the car and was on her way home.

"Rukia!" Hisana called snapping her out of her memory, "You want something to eat?"

"Yes please!" she called back from upstairs. Rukia closed her book shut and descended down the stairs. She plopped down on the couch and rested her left arm on her forehead, the palm of her hand facing upwards.

"Something wrong?" the older sister inquired when she noticed her sisters' position on the couch as she looked past the counter top.

"No…" she answered back, not moving from her stance.

"Okay then," There was a pause besides the sounds of Hisana making a sandwich.

"Really? That's it? No more questioning?!" Rukia replied back shocked. This caught her attention and she immediately flipped over on her stomach and looked directly at her sister.

"Well yeah, if you don't want to talk about it, then you don't want to talk about it,"

"You should have told that to CJ, Mae, Orihime, and Tatsuki…" Rukia scoffed to Hisana. "…ok, umm, so… there's this guy…" she began.

"Ohhhhhh, wow, this is a first Rukia!" the older sibling teased. The younger sister's eyes widened and she was about to reply back.

"Shh, no no, keep going, don't worry, everything you tell me now is confidential and will be spoken only between us," she reassured her now less panicking little sister.

"Ok… anyway, his name is Ichigo, and he's in my French and Chemistry classes. At first, we accidentally bumped into each other yesterday; he apologized and helped me up. I thought that would have been the last I'd see of him,"

"Mmmhmmm," Hisana said, acknowledging Rukia that she was paying attention.

"So, Orihime and them find out, but they don't really go into it… Second period comes along, and he's in my French class, and… he just kept staring at me!" Hisana gave a laugh.

"What?" Rukia asked.

"Because, Rukia, I'm surprised that no one else has done that to you, you're beautiful…"

"Well, good looks do run in the family…" Rukia and her sister smiled. She further explained her experience in more detail to her older sister for the next hour.

**One Hour Later**

"A lot has been happening these past two days huh Rukia?"

"You still have NO idea Hisana,"

"Well, if you're looking for some advice… you should wait it out, see if you really like this Ichigo, or if he really likes you, you'll know soon enough,"

"Are you sure?" Rukia asked, skepticism was shown on her face.

"Of course I am! This is similar to how Byakuya acted around me in college…"

"Byakuya?" Rukia's face scrunched up in confusion. A second later is changed to horror. "Oh god, Hisana, don't tell Byakuya! Please! I don't want a murder on our hands!"

"Calm down! Hey! Rukia look and listen to me!" Hisana's voice resonated in the room, "did you now listen to what I told you earlier? What is said about this subject is only between the two of us, alright?" Rukia's panicking face relaxed and she let out a relieved sigh. She got up from the couch and hugged Hisana.

"Thank you Hisana, this really means a lot to me…"

"No problem, we're sisters! Now here, eat," Hisana let go of Rukia and handed her the finished sandwich made a little under an hour ago. "…and do your homework!" The younger sibling nodded and went upstairs.

"Oh boy Rukia, you're in for a long second semester…" Hisana said to herself once she heard Rukia close her door, her mind went through memories when she was in college and a certain Byakuya Kuchiki would stare at her in their classes together.

* * *

To Rukia's surprise, the next couple of weeks flew by, unlike her first two days of school. She took the advice of her older sister and waited it out. It seemed to be working for now. Rukia and Ichigo got to more about each other and got over the awkward "_Hi I'm just getting to know you_" stage, to the "_Hi I think I consider you my friend now, and I like to abuse you!_" phase. Or maybe, that was only in Rukia's case.

Rukia learned that Ichigo had 2 younger sisters who were fraternal twins, who had completely different personalities as well. Yuzu cooked, cleaned, and did the house work for the Kurosaki family. Karin was the more tomboy-ish type, getting into sports and wearing a baseball cap all the time. Ichigo was born in Karakura, but only stayed there for a couple of years before his parents moved to Hawaii. He was a fan of Shakespeare and his hair was naturally orange. His music tastes matched rather well with Rukia's, both liked mainly anything, acoustic and alternative was the top two if they had to choose. Movies were mostly scary ones, although comedies were also a favorite. His hobbies were surfing, running, and any sports that were entertaining. School wasn't a problem for him; he got good grades and studied well for tests and quizzes. Rukia was glad for that, she didn't want a friend that would bring her down in school, and she aimed for success. Their attitudes towards one another changed greatly after they got to know each other more. Ichigo became more relaxed and started to call her names like "midget" or "shorty" just because he had begun to have a liking to piss her off. Rukia got back at him by calling him "strawberry" or "giant". His dad was a doctor and since he had a big success in Hawaii, decided to move back to Karakura to run his own clinic. Isshin was incredibly good as his job as a doctor, but not so much as a dad. He, as Ichigo put it to Rukia, acted more like a little kid and it was more like Ichigo and his sisters had to take care of HIM than the dad taking care of them. He would wake up Ichigo by trying to kill him or some other way of giving Ichigo a broken bone. Rukia definitely wanted to meet Ichigo's father, she wanted him to tell her about embarrassing storied of Ichigo as a child. She'd have fun with that. However, Ichigo never mentioned his mother to her. Rukia decided that it was a touchy subject, and respected his not mentioning about her. She knew how it felt to lose a parent, because she had lost both of hers.

"Rukia!" Ichigo called out, waving a hand in front of her face to get her attention. The girl blinked a couple of times before remember where she was. It was 5th period, Chemistry; everyone was filling out a worksheet that Runner had given out to the class. The room was filled with conversations about everything _except _chemistry of course, but Runner was just sitting at his desk reading the paper.

"Oh sorry Ichigo, I spaced out for a moment," Rukia said to him. Ichigo just crossed his arms and exhaled a breath.

"Yeah, whatever midget, let's just get this thing over with already," he replied back, giving his attention to the piece of paper in front of him. A flash of anger spread through Rukia once Ichigo had said the word "midget". Her right hand balled up into a fist and she punched his shoulder.

"Ow! Damnit! What was that for?!" the orange haired teen asked rubbing his now sore spot where the raven headed girl hit him.

"You know that I HATE it when you call me that, stupid!" Rukia fumed out at him.

"Oh, you mean when I call you midget?! Well, here's the deal then, when you stop calling me "strawberry" I'll stop calling you "midget" alright?" Rukia thought about his compromise for a minute, and then smiled.

"Mmmm, nahh, it's too fun to call you "strawberry" to stop" she said back.

"Ok then, I'll just keep calling you "midget" then, agreed?"

"Fine… but I'll just keep abusing you then." Rukia saw Ichigo wince, but nodded as an answer. She smirked in victory and her in her mind she knew that she'd have fun with that.

"So _now_ can we finish this?" her lab partner inquired, changing the subject from name calling back the Chemistry.

"Mmmhmm,"

The rest of the period passed by, and luckily, Ichigo and Rukia finished their worksheet and turned it in before the bell rang.

"See you later Rukia,"

"Bye Strawberry!" she replied back with a huge smile on her face. Ichigo rolled his eyes and went the other way.

"Rukia!" a voice caught her attention just as she started to walk to her next class.

"Hey Tatsuki, did you finish the chem worksheet?" Rukia asked once Tatsuki went up to her.

"Are you kidding? I don't freaking understand _anything_ in that class,"

"Really, well I can help you if you want…"

"Yeah, we can have a study group, make sure you invite Ichigo," Tatsuki told her, smiling.

"Whatever…" Rukia scoffed.

"Oh come on, you two have gotten closer right?"

"Mmm, well yeah, I'm getting to know him better,"

"And besides, he knows everyone that we hang out with at lunch, so there shouldn't be a problem," the taller girl added on. Rukia thought about what her friend said to her for a moment.

"Fine, fine, I'll tell him about it, how does next Wednesday after school sound to you?" she finally said in agreement.

"Yeah, that's good, ok then, I'll see you later!" Tatsuki said back and she went on her separate way. Rukia sighed in relief, and put her earphones in and played the song on her ipod.

**The bridges are crumpled,  
The water soaks into rocks,  
That fell at the bottom of the road. (At the end the town)  
The town that we lived in.  
The memories shakin apart from the weeds that grow.**

Over the sidewalks,  
Running away from the streets we knew,  
Sidewalks,  
Like the time we thought was made for you.  
Or

Her mind went into more depth on what Tatsuki had told her as Rukia was walking to her classroom. Ichigo had met everyone who she was friends with at lunch, Orihime, Mae, CJ, Renji, Chase, and Uryuu. It was sometime during last week because he passed by their area and Tatsuki was the one who caught his attention and made him come over. Rukia was being harassed again by the girls and was forced to introduce everyone to him. So they all finally met Ichigo and he, thankfully to Rukia, gave a good impression on all of them. Besides Renji and Uryuu. Renji had given him a glare and Uryuu gave his mysterious look and pushed up his glasses in a stoic way. Ichigo didn't react negatively and told them he had to go and left.

**  
Out on the front porch,  
watching the cars as they go by,  
Eighteen blue, twenty one grey,  
Looking ahead for the first time that we could drive,  
Out on our own,  
To speed away**

From the sidewalks,  
Running away from the streets we knew,  
Sidewalks,  
Like the time we thought was made for you.  
Or

Ever since then, he'd pass by their place almost every lunch and talk for a few minutes and get to know them. Rukia was glad, because now that he was at least becoming their friends too. All the girls completely forgot about the "Love" thing between her and Ichigo and started to like him as a friend as well. She was relieved, now she didn't have to endure embarrassing talks with CJ and Mae after school as much.

Rukia stepped into her Drawing/Painting class and sat down on her stool. The bell rang again and everyone was in their seats. Kaien and Miyako were talking once more about anything and everything they could before Bidecor addressed the class.

"Ok everyone," he began, "go and get your patterns in your drawers and finish them, they are due tomorrow at the end of class,"

Bidecor had given the class a little project, just a pattern really, that featured squares, circles, triangles, or rectangles. They had to make one, choose their best/ favorite one and get it approved by him. Rukia had done a triangle one and was already coloring it on the final paper sheet. Kaien and Miyako were also on the same page as Rukia and were on their final drafts and coloring.

**  
All of days that past us by,  
All of the sun is gone...  
Away**

Sidewalks,  
Running away from the streets we knew,

Sidewalks,  
Running away from the streets we knew,  
Sidewalks,  
Like the time we thought was made for you.  
(Sidewalks)  
The bridges are crumpled,  
(Sidewalks)  
The water soaks into rocks,  
That fell at the bottom of the road.

"Kaien, what color do you think would go with orange?" Miyako asked the older teen next to Rukia. Kaien looked up from his project and took a glance at hers.

"I dunno, orange I guess…" he replied.

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! You're the one who asked me anyway!"

"Fine, I'll just get another opinion," Miyako answered back to his remark. Rukia's eyes looked up from her work to get a visual of the two. Miyako's hair was tied up in a bun, with a few strands of hair streaming down her face. A dark blue shirt was visible underneath a denim jacket with a pair of black pants on her legs. Kaien was wearing a normal band t-shirt that was red and blue jeans.

* * *

The past two weeks Rukia had gotten used to listening to Kaien and Miyako's conversations. Even Bidecor noticed their talks, and one time, when he was walking around, asked if they would ever shut up. Miyako smiled and just said "nope, never!". Kaien gave a lopsided smirk and agreed with her, but added "she's the one who starts all the talks,". Once he passed by them, Miyako gave a kick under the table to Kaien's leg.

"Ouch! Gahh! What the HELL?!" he yelled out.

"I do not start ALL of our conversations!" Miyako answered back at him with narrowed eyes.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry! I start some of them too alright?!" Kaien was holding his leg and massaging the painful spot.

"Good, I'm glad we understand each other,"

"God, I wonder how Saiko puts up with all this since he's your boyfriend, I'm only you're friend!" Rukia was certain that she saw a flicker of surprise in Miyako's eyes and it turned into a tinge of sadness. As soon as she saw it, however, it was gone.

"Shut up Kaien, you and your huge ego can go suck it," Kaien's eyes went wide and he noticed the change of mood.

"Hey… I'm sorry alright, I didn't mean it… don't be mad at me…" he said softly to her. Miyako looked and pursed her lips together. Rukia watched the whole thing, Miyako didn't talk to Kaien for a couple of days before returning to her old self. It was awkward, because it would be strangely quiet, but Kaien would talk to Rukia as small talk. Rukia supposedly though that the two made up because once they got into class two days later they were back to talking again.

* * *

"Hey Rukia," Miyako got the attention of the younger girl.

"Uhh, yeah?"

"What color would go with yellow for my pattern?" Miyako and Kaien's eyes both went to her.

"Ohh, umm, I think I'm gonna have to agree with Kaien, orange would go nice with it…"

"See what did I tell ya? Thanks for supporting me Rukia," Kaien told Rukia he gave her a thumbs up. She felt her face heat up from the praise and turned away.

"It was nothing much…" she said quietly.

"Thanks for your opinion Rukia, at least you didn't have to have your pride over come you, like this guy here…" Miyako pointed over to the older teenage boy.

"Hey! What do you mean about that?!" he retorted back, aiming the question to Miyako.

"Oh nothing…" she said, and gave a wink to Rukia. Rukia smiled and nodded, she plugged in her ipod again, to skip the start of bickering that Miyako and Kaien were about to have. She had gotten enough of that for the day. Her concentration went back to coloring her pattern and listening to her song.

**I'm not saying it was your fault  
Although you could have done more**

**Oh you're so naive yet so**

**How could this be done  
Your such a smiling sweetheart  
Oh and your sweet and pretty face  
In such an ugly way  
Something so beautiful  
That everytime I look inside**

The last bell rang before Rukia was done finishing her coloring.

"Oh well" she thought to herself, "I still have all period tomorrow," She looked over to Miyako and Kaien's, the older teens had stopped bickering and were now just putting away their assignments. Rukia followed and did the same.

"Remember, this is due at the end of class tomorrow, have a nice day," Bidecor told everyone when they were exiting the classroom in his monotone voice.

**I know that she knows that I'm not fond of asking  
True or false it may be  
She's still out to get me**

**I know that she knows that I'm not fond of asking  
True or false it may be  
She's still out to get me**

**I may say it was your fault  
Cause I know you could have done more**

**Oh you're so naive yet so**

**How could this be done  
By such a smiling sweetheart  
Oh and your sweet and pretty face  
In such an ugly way something so beautiful  
Everytime I look inside**

"Bye Rukia!," Kaien said to her once he got his stuff put away. Rukia was still putting her folder in her backpack.

"See you tomorrow Rukia!" Miyako added on.

"Bye," the shorted girl replied back and giving a small wave. The two older students walked out together of the room leaving Rukia to her thoughts again.

"I wonder if Miyako actually likes Kaien, that look in her eyes the other day sure seemed like it…." She pondered again. "Damnit, what am I doing? It's not like I'm a freaking expert at this relationship thing anyway…. I should mind my own business nevertheless…" Rukia shook away her thoughts and left the class as well.

**I know that she knows that I'm not fond of asking  
True or false it may be  
She's still out to get me**

**I know that she knows that I'm not fond of asking  
True or false it may be  
She's still out to get me**

**How could this be done  
By such a smiling sweetheart**

**Oh you're so naive yet so**

**Such an ugly thing  
Someone so beautiful  
And everytime you're on his side**

**I know she knows that I'm not fond of asking  
True or false it maybe be she's still out to get me**

**And I know she knows that I'm not fond of asking  
True or false it maybe be she's still out to get me**

**Just don't let me down  
Just don't let me down  
Hold on to your kite  
Just don't let me down  
Just don't let me down  
Hold on to your kite  
Just don't let me down  
Just don't let me down  
Hold on to this kite  
Just don't let me down**

Hisana picked up Rukia after school rather early and Rukia didn't have enough time to tell CJ and Mae about her last part of school.

"Oh well, I'll just tell them later…" she thought to herself.

A bunch of homework waited for Rukia once she got home, so she didn't have a chance to call her friends. She had homework in all classes except Chemistry and Drawing/Painting. APEC was a reading assignment, French they had to do a page in the workbook, Humanities there was a take home quiz, Algebra, Shean gave the students a couple of pages in the book too. It took her about 4 hours to finish all of them.

"I am going to shoot all of my teachers," Rukia said out loud once she was done with everything. She was lying down on her bed with her head buried in her pillows. It was about 6:45 in the afternoon and she was just about ready to crash for the night.

"I'll just take a little nap and then I'll call CJ and Mae…" Rukia told herself before closing her eyes. The sunset was visible through her windows, and that's that Rukia looked at before sleep took over her.

**Ok. I swear that I am sorry. I just got bombarded with everything. Anyway, School is coming up again! Summer was too short! So I'll try to squeeze in a few chapters during school too, hopefully. Have faith in me! **

**Review if you'd like**

**Until next time.**

**-The Bleach Guardian's Heart**

**p.s. Songs used here were**

**1) Sidewalks by: Story of the Year**

**2) Naïve by: The Kooks**


	7. Secret Valentine

**Disclaimer: Bleach is not mine… but I have a bunch of Bleach merchandise that I love and cherish forever :P**

**Hi, here's another chapter, cause I feel bad for being on hiatus for so long the last chapter. Enjoy! P.S. it's Valentines Day this chapter :). Bring on the flowers!**

**A Sophomore Life**

**Chapter 7: Secret Valentine**

**It's words you forget  
To anniversary songs.  
The bottles bite back,  
Your tolerance wrong.  
****  
Your good intentions count for little anymore.  
If you're sorry, why wage war?  
I'm not fully convinced.  
There's something wrong with this.  
Could another point of view,  
Biased and untrue,  
Tear me away from you?**

"Oh crap, don't tell me it's already morning!" Rukia mumbled to herself as she pulled her bed sheets over her head. The song kept on playing the background and she found it useless to try and go back to sleep. A week had passed since Tatsuki asked Rukia about the study session about Chemistry. Rukia's mind was about to explode with all the Chemistry that she had to re-teach to her friends three days ago. She got up and out from her snug bed and once again went on her daily routine in the morning. Leaving the song playing on, she made her way to the bathroom.

"It's Valentine's Day… woop-dee-FREAKING-do…" the young girl said to her reflection, her voice thick with sarcasm. Her mind went on the memories of what she had done for this years' 'Single Aware-ness Day'.

"_Oh yes that's right…I wasted at least ten flippin' dollars for this stupid day…_" she thought, while brushing her teeth. She had bought a single rose for five of her friends, which were, CJ, Mae, Orihime, Tatsuki, and Ichigo. It was 2 bucks per rose, and Rukia was only going to buy the flowers for the girls, but they somehow persuaded her to get one for Ichigo.

"_As a friend my ASS _" she fumed inside of her mind. She spit into the sink, and frowned at herself in the mirror. Luckily, she had made the note that would go on the card unsigned, making it to be anonymous. The ones who would have any knowledge of it would be only her and her girlfriends.

**  
Will you be my valentine  
If I'm a world away?  
Apologies  
Are breaking me.  
Constants aren't so constant anymore.  
****  
Two days I wait for  
Calls to come through.  
Tonight for me translates  
To yesterday to you.**

It was about 6:45 in the morning and Rukia got dressed quickly. A simple dark blue shirt with a white flower print on the front and a pair of blue jeans to go with it.

"_I didn't notice that the song playing is called "Valentine"_ Rukia mused as she finished putting on her clothes and brushed her hair.

"_That's pretty ironic…_" She grabbed her black jacket and ipod before leaving her room to go downstairs.

"Hisana!" she called out as she was walking down the stairs.

"Yes, Rukia?" her older sister answered back, "I'm in the kitchen,"

"Let's go I'm ready," Rukia replied once she was at the door of the kitchen entrance.

"Okay then. Let's go, here's your breakfast," Hisana handed Rukia a blueberry bagel with cream cheese spread on it.

"Oh, thanks Hisana!" the younger sibling said with gratitude and took a huge bite of the bread. She put on her shoes and followed her older sister towards the door.

"Byakuya, Happy Valentine's Day dear, we're going now!" Hisana called to her husband, who was sitting on a chair reading the newspaper. She walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He nodded in response and his wife smiled back. Rukia was just waiting by the door and eating her breakfast.

"See you later Byakuya!" Rukia said as well as she slipped out the front door with Hisana.

**  
Bend and you wave  
You're barely away.  
I wish I could say tonight  
When you bend and wave goodbye  
You'd take me with you.  
****  
Will you be my valentine  
If I'm a world away?  
Apologies  
Are breaking me.  
Constants aren't so constant anymore.  
The constants aren't so constant anymore.  
****  
Will you be my valentine  
If I'm a world away?  
(Constants aren't so constant anymore.  
Constants aren't so constant anymore. )**

"Hey Rukia, are you okay with being home alone tonight?" Hisana asked her as they were driving to school.

"Yeah, of course Hisana, you and Byakuya have left me alone a million times already,"

"Mmm, okay, but call me if you need anything…"

"Hisanaaaa, don't treat me like I'm 10! Come on! I'm 16 years old, go and have fun with Byakuya tonight, you guys go have fun at your dinner… even though I don't know how you can even get him to smile…" Rukia added the last part quieter than the beginning.

"Alright, alright, fine.. we will, and… just so you know, I have my ways to break his hard cold exterior…" Hisana smiled to herself, while Rukia stuck out her tongue in disgust.

"Thanks… but that was just a little too much information…"

"I know that you want to hear more of it little sister," Hisana teased.

"EW no! No thank you! My imagination has enough stuff in it as it is…" Rukia said in defense. Hisana laughed and continued driving towards Karakura High.

"Bye Hisana, see you later!" the smaller girl kissed he sisters' cheek and went out of the car. She looked at the front of the school and began walking. All of a sudden, couples surrounded her and she was lost in a sea of love-sick twosomes.

"H-Hey! What the freaking hell is this?!" she yelled out, but no one seemed to notice her.

"Damnit, I HATE Valentine's Day…" she said to herself hotly. Her usual big violet eyes narrowed and became an icy glare to all the people around her. She hastily put in her ipod to her ears and blasted it as loud as it could go, and pushed and shoved people out of the way to get to her locker.

Rukia finally got to her locker, but found it to be blocked by a couple, who were making out right in front of it. She pursed her lips together and stomped up to the preoccupied pair.

"Excuse me…" she said politely… she didn't want to blow up in their face. However, they either didn't hear her, or they just ignored her. Rukia sighed, and became ultimately disgusted when she saw that their kiss became much more heated up. She definitely could not take anymore.

"HEY! YOU TWO EITHER STOP SHOVING YOUR TONGUES DOWN EACH OTHER'S THROATS OR GET A FREAKING ROOM AND MOVE IT!"

The couple finally broke apart and saw Rukia. They shrugged and only moved down a couple of lockers and began where they left off.

"Are you freaking serious?! God damn, this day just gets better and better, and it's only morning!" she vented out to her books in her locker.

"Hey Rukia!" a voice called out to her.

"WHAT?!" she yelled out as she turned around to face who had called her. It was Mae and CJ who stood before her; they were both taken aback at her reaction and had scared looks on their faces. They knew Rukia's temper was manageable for her, but when she was angry… well… she just didn't control it as much as she should.

"Uhh… a-are you okay?" CJ bravely asked her, biting her lip in the process.

"Oh, yeah, sorry guys, it's just that…. You know how much I hate Valentine's Day…" Rukia replied back, returning to her old self, no longer pissed off.

"Well, don't worry; I know how ya feel..." Mae said back. Rukia sighed and she heard the bell ring.

"Well, let's go to class, I'll see you later CJ…" the now calmer Rukia said to her friend.

"Yeah, ok, byeeee" CJ told them as she turned to walk to her classroom.

"So you wanna tell me why you've gotten hit by the bitch-stick and are being all mad?" Mae asked the shorter girl once they were alone.

"Sorry about that… and I did not get hit by the bitch-stick… it's just that I dunno what, but once I got to school I got bombarded and surrounded by couples! Everywhere! And it doesn't make the people who are single, like us feel better, you know? Stupid Single-Awareness day… and then to top it off, there was this couple making out to the MAX right in front of my locker. I asked them to move kindly… but they didn't hear me! And so I totally yelled at them to freaking move, and then that's when you guys came…" Rukia explained, her face already exhausted.

"Don't worry Rukia, just so you know, you're not the only person at this school who's single, and this is only ONE DAY, who knows, maybe someone will send you a flower…" Mae reassured her.

"Yeah, thanks… let's just get into class…" Rukia told her changing the subject. The two entered into their APEC class.

Rukia completely drowned out everything that Luston had said in APEC. The whole classroom was covered in decorations that were all the shades of Red, White and Pink. It wasn't Luston's fault though. His classroom was also the Spirits Coordinating Committee's room. Rukia was relieved when the bell rang and she immediately shot out of the class first, with Mae trailing right behind her.

"God, I couldn't stand another second in that room!" the violet-eyed girl told Mae as they were walking through the halls.

"I know what you mean, it was a little overboard, even for me," Mae agreed.

"Well, I'll see you at lunch," Rukia said back to her as they went their separate ways.

"Bye!"

Rukia sighed and headed to her French class. Although it wasn't as bad as her APEC class, the room was decorated for Valentine's Day as well.

"Rukia!" a voice caught her attention just as she walked into the class.

"Hey, Ichigo," she replied back

"Happy Valentine's Day" he said nonchalantly to her, his hands were wedged into his pockets.

"More like 'Single Awareness Day," she corrected him with a smirk, "nice shirt," she added. Ichigo looked down onto his shirt and smiled. It was a black t-shirt with a slanted print of 'SINGLE' on it, his blue jeans shifted as he took his right hand out of the pocket.

"You mean this?" he asked pointing to the word.

"Yep, definitely the best shirt to wear on this particular day, only it's not red," Ichigo scoffed at the girl's statement and thanked her. The bell rang and the two went to their respective seats.

"Bonjour class!" Madame Blak greeted to the students.

"Bonjour Madame," they answered back in a bored tone.

"Okay class, since today is Valentine's Day, and choir will be in and out of the classes today this period and next period we will have an easy class time," she told them in English. Sighs and cheers of approval answered back to the teachers' remark.

"Rukia!" Rangiku said as she turned around to face the girl.

"Yes?"

"Did you send anything to anyone _special_?" the junior emphasized on the last word and she got closer to Rukia.

"Only to Orihime, Mae, Tatsuki, and CJ," the smaller girl said back while trying to pretend to be working on something in her notebook.

"You didn't send anything to Ichigo?" she questioned further. Rukia's eyes went wide, but she covered it up quickly.

"No, why would I? We're just friends,"

"Well, since you guys have been getting closer and all… I just thought you would get him something…."

"That would just make people like YOU, think that we're going out," Rukia accused. Rangiku smirked and she put a finger on her chin as if she was thinking.

"I wouldn't do anything like that,"

"Mmmmhmmm…" Rukia said in an unenthusiastic tone. Just then the door opened and about 10 choir people entered into the class room.

"Excuse us, but we have the flowers and songs ready," one of the choir students said to Madame Blak.

"Of course, class be quiet now please," she called the attention of the class.

Rukia rested her face on her hand as she waited to get her flowers from CJ, Mae, and Orihime. Rangiku got about 20 single roses and 4 bouquets of roses. Rukia glanced at Ichigo and he got handed about 10 single roses.

"One of those is mine…" she thought to herself.

Everything was given out and Rukia was glad. But before the choir students left, they announced something to the class.

"And we have one more to give out, a song and a bouquet of roses for a _Rukia Kuchiki_, from an _Anonymous_ person" Rukia's head shot up at the sound of her name and her mouth hung open. Wooo's and Aww's came from Rukia's surrounding classmates.

"If she could please stand up…" Rukia tried the shrink down in her chair and hoped that they didn't see her, but Rangiku poked her senseless making her stand up. The sophomore girl gave an icy glare to her and the junior smiled widely in return. And then the singing began.

**When I fall in love it will be forever  
Or I****'ll never fall in love  
In a restless world like this is  
Love is ended before its begun  
And too many moonlight kisses  
Seem to cool in the warmth of the sun**

When I give my heart it will be completely  
Or Ill never give my heart  
And the moment I can feel that you feel that way too  
Is when I fall in love with you.

And the moment I can feel that you feel that way too  
Is when I fall in love with you.

That 2 minutes were the longest that Rukia had to endure ever in her life. She felt her cheeks feeling extremely hot and although the singing was wonderful she was embarrassed to the extreme. She only made eye contact with the floor as she heard the voices harmonize. The choir finally left and Rukia slumped into her chair clutching her bouquet of roses and the card that came with it. She opened the piece of paper and read it.

**  
**_**"I think we've got somethin' special  
Girl, you and me  
Together, we'll take over the world  
You know I love ya  
I need you so  
So happy I just wanna let everybody know  
**_

_**-Your Secret Admirer"**_

She recognized the small paragraph from one of the songs that she loved. Usher's Something Special. Her breathing got quick and she folded up the paper and put it in her pocket. She looked up to find the whole class staring at her.

"What?!" she finally said gaining her self motivation again.

"Rukia has a secret loverrrrr!!" Rangiku yelled out laughing.

"I'm going to kill you," the small girl grumbled as the rest of the class joined in on laughing, even Madame Blak gave a small chuckle. From the corner of her eye Rukia saw Ichigo laughing as well.

"Oh great, even Strawberry thinks this is funny," she thought to herself, rolling her eyes.

"Wow Rukia, I think I'm jealous" Jenna told her when she stopped laughing along with the rest of the class, "I only got a bouquet of roses from my boyfriend! You got a song AND roses, how sweet!"

"Yeah, only that I now have some sort of stalker!" Rukia replied back exasperatedly.

"Well, why don't you figure out who sent you the valentine?" Rangiku suggested her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"That's actually a good idea, thanks!" the violet-eyed teen agreed with the junior.

"See! I can give you helpful advice once in a while!"

"Only when it has something to do with boys…" Rukia added on quietly.

"Is there anything on the note that can give you any hints?" Jenna asked. Rukia took out the piece of paper and looked it over again.

"Mmm I don't think so; it's only the chorus part of Something Special by Usher,"

"That could be a clue,"

"How?"

"I dunno, I'm not the one with the stalker here, come on Rukia! You're smart!" Jenna smiled after telling her that.

"Thanks for your _oh so_ wonderfully helpful assistance Jenna," Rukia told her.

"No problemo!"

The rest of the period went on, but Rukia could still tell people gave her awkward glances every now and then. She was very grateful again when the bell rang, ending her French class. She walked to Math class pondering on who gave her the Valentine. Of course she could always ask everyone at lunch to help her out, since 5 minds were better than one. She got to Shean's class earlier than everyone else since she rushed to get out of her previous class. So since she still had some time, she decided to listen to one more song before class started.

**Soft kiss and wine what a pretty friend of mine  
we're finally intertwined  
nervous and shy for the moment we will come  
alive tonight**

secret valentine

We'll write a song  
that turns out the lights  
when both boy and girl start suddenly shaking inside  
don't waste your time  
speed up your breathing  
just close your eyes  
we'll hope it's not for nothing at all

lay down be still  
don't worry talk they will  
i'll be loving you until  
morning's first light  
breaks tomorrow  
i'll take care of you tonight

secret valentine

We'll write a song  
that turns out the lights  
when both boy and girl start suddenly shaking inside  
don't waste your time  
speed up your breathing  
just close your eyes  
we'll hope it's not for nothing at all

when guilt fills your head  
brush off rise up from the dead  
this is the moment that we  
will come alive  
brace yourself for love  
sweet love, secret love.

We'll write a song  
that turns out the lights  
when both boy and girl start suddenly shaking inside  
don't waste your time  
speed up your breathing  
just close your eyes  
we'll hope it's not for nothing at all

"Great," Rukia thought, "even my songs are having something to do with Valentine's Day," She took out the note that came with her Valentine roses and re-read it again before the class started.

**I'm breaking this up into two parts, next chapter is gonna be Rukia's 2****nd**** half of Valentine's Day. Don't you just LOVE it?!**

**Haha ok then, I currently started school again, (Junior status!) so I'll try to find time to write, hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**And just for your info CJ and Chase are characters that I borrowed from the t.v. show House M.D. Cameron is CJ and Chase… is well, Chase haha so if you wondering how they looked like, just find pictures of them from House and just imagine them younger, yep, k hah.**

**Umm, yeah, so review if you'd like! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon, if my AP classes allow me to have time!**

**Until next time!**

**-The Bleach Guardian's Heart**

**Songs used:**

**Valentine by: The Get Up Kids**

**When I Fall In Love by: Nat King Cole**

**Something Special by: Usher**

**Secret Valentine by: We the Kings**

**All are REALLY good songs that I love. K BYEE**


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